Uprising: The Beast Wars
by Resting-Madness
Summary: She was born an outcast, but promised to be worshipped as a Goddess. When they turned on her, she fought back and found a new life as a Sorceress. And her only rule is, be a beast... or die.
1. Standing Up as the Little Guy

Disclaimer: I do not own anything within the Final Fantasy VIII relm the characters, location, general creation etc. And I don't make money from this- that's just a dream in the sparkles of my eye.

...

She's been running from snakes since yesterday afternoon to early this morning because it dawned on her... she doesn't want to die. Sand would shift on its own beneath her feet whenever she'd found time to rest- just catch her breath- but the drifting sand would have her on the run again. Its funny, all her life she's felt that she'd been running from snakes. People who spoke with forked tongues had lied to her parents, telling them that she would be prayed to and worshipped at the temple shrine. Treated like a Goddess, royalty. And her parents? Oh they would know riches the likes their poor eyes have never seen.

The five year old could see the very strong hesitation in her parents' eyes over giving her up, but she insisted that they take the temples offer. It was the chance of a lifetime! And all she would have had to do is sit around and have people pray to her- too easy!

Too easy indeed. With one shake of the hand from her father with the temple priest she was whisked away. Gone. And where the cash did flow for her parents, the six year old suffered grueling hours of work. Undergoing training to harness and outwardly project her well kept secret abilities of using paramagics. How the temple'd found out she never did figure out. Only she and her parents knew of her secret, but why would they tell?! It didn't make sense! They were the ones to keep it a secret in the first place. Look how long it took her father to even accept the offer at all! They wouldn't suddenly decide to trade her in for money, and it was she who'd made the decision of 'yes' when the offer was presented. They are not to blame. That didn't mean it didn't hurt how things had turned out though.

For years this harsh treatment went on: she'd train, eat a little, and then train some more. The only times that she wasn't being trained was on Sunday, when the people of their small village would come to temple in order to worship her as a great Goddess of Healing. Hn. Goddess indeed. The town's people had no idea of what was going on within those sacred walls; and no matter how pleading her eyes appeared to them, no one saw her suffering. No one- not even her parents who had come to worship her- paid it any mind.

She endured it, though, because the pain and worship had become all she knew after so many years of it. It was when she'd hit eighteen years old that everything changed. One of the ministers tried to have his way with her! She can still, to this day, feel the slither of his snake hands climbing up her legs when he'd climbed into her bed during the night. Abuse of her powers was one thing but her body? How was that justifiable? How was it fair? Pushing him away, she fled. She could go home! She had to see her parents, had to have all this stopped so that she could return to her normal life. And they're strong. Her parents can do it!

She's been away from home for 13 years, but she's still their daughter, and they _must_ still love her. She hasn't seen them in 2 years, when they'd stopped going to temple. But they might have just been busy. They must miss her. They were all so close! There could be a chance that they have seen the plead in her eyes and the guilt has them hiding from her. They have no need to feel guilty though, and she'll assure them of that. Just as soon as she's firmly planted in her mother and father's embrace.

And they'll go away. They'll leave the village and start new lives someplace else. Surely they have enough money by now to no longer need another cent of that dirty temple money. Dirty as it is, it'll come of good use. They can take what they have and get out of this poor town, move to a new place across the ocean. Some exotic island, she's always wanted to see Balamb- the whole world really! Its a wonderful opportunity for all of them

Shoving the door open she was immidiately met with silence. Calling out to them again, she's again met with silence. Where are they? She called again and again and ran throughout the tiny home looking for them. There was no way they couldn't hear her. It was when she'd entered their bedroom that she discovered why they hadn't replied. Her breath left her like a tornado had sucked it out of her body. It couldn't be? Not them... they're the strongest people in the world... her Mother. Her Father. Dead.

The gravity of the scene, the absolute truth of it, smacked her in the face leaving a mark in her soul as dark as the aged blood stain on their mattress. Her skin bristled with red hot anger. Then pain, a great pain that shook her, and took her to their decrepit corpses where she embraced them and cried.

When the tears were through, she felt only one thing needed to be done. Revenge. She wanted revenge! To taste it. To take it. And to make the ones responsible pay! And when she'd returned to that temple she unleashed her full fury on them. She very proudly _showed_ them the power that they so desperately craved to use her for. Their nervous systems weakened, their skin rotted and burned off, their teeth fell out, they released their bowels and bladders. Oh they were not well when she was done with them, and more importantly they were not alive. She saved the worst punishement for the man who had attacked her. She grabbed him by the throat and poisoned him from the neck down leaving him rotted and festered, and sick beyond any repair. And he will live with and feel the incurable pain until- like the others- his skull dissolves and sinks the skin of his awful and ugly face into his chest cavity.

Harsh, swift deaths for all but Aziz Pagoni; he never would have learned his lesson. So while he lives in this unbearable pain he has time to think about it... at least until the poison gets at him.

But that wasn't the end of her problem; 18 years old and sheltered to a life of being walled up in a temple to be used as a magic slave, she had nowhere to go with her parents dead. She didn't know how to take care of herself. She saught out friends and neighbors but they all turned her away- rejected her- and the word FREAK was forever stamped on her soul.

The village knew about her, and whispered. They fed the lies full and made them worse. To them, with no temple walls to bind her powers- which they didn't- she's dangerous and a killer, which had her cast off and sent away to live on her own... to die on her own.

For 4 years she's hid and she's ran. Four years out in the Kashkabald desert in the heat, in the cold of the night. Thirsty, dehydrated, delirious, and encrusted with sand and the elements, she had to add the worst of the problem into the scenario. The hatred. For those 4 years she hated herself, hated her village, hated the temple, and even her mother and father! Running scared for so long, running blind... she'd just given up. Let the sandworms have her. Its what she deserves. And she waited...

But something happened that changed those thoughts,They found her. They picked her up, they brought her into their hidden world, they fed her, they bathed her, they cared for her and nurtured her mental health as well as her gift. But it was different from the temple life because these quiet toned, respectful men in black robes with bleach white heads truly made her feel like a Goddess, but there she learned that she is a _Sorceress_.

And with her new understanding and her years of pain, she wanted to feed it- rule it. She wanted the world to feel her pain and revenge, as well as her love and affection as a Goddess among her freaks when she turns this world into the monsters they fear and abuse. A world of Guardian Forces, of people born with powers like herself... a world with no humans. And any who oppose... will DIE.

...

You could just feel it in the hot summer air; the way shops in the small town of Balamb seemed to all be on the same wave length as outdoor speakers blast tunes and conversation from a popular radio station, WMZB.106.

Zell and Kait can hear one beachy/pop song after the other, playing from all directions as they cut through the tiny park to sooner reach the diner where they plan on having a good lunch after the day's workout in the field; a blast of north east winds blew the scent of the sea into their faces and up their nostrils, leaving the salty taste on their tongues, but it did little to staunch the two's appetites as their walk turned to a sprint. Exiting the lush green grass they stride across the pavement at top speed.

"I'll bet I can eat ten burgers faster than you!" Kait jabbed over his shoulder to the blond who's a couple steps behind him. Taking in a deep whiff of the blowing summer wind, sea wasn't the only thing he tasted.

There's a mix of grilled fish, crab, a gentle sweetness of fruit from a market on the way past, and grass.

Snickering, Zell hopped over a waist high wall made of river stones and concrete in his path then hurried his pace to meet the younger male's. Not to be outdone by the youth, just because he's gotten up there in the number count doesn't mean it goes for phsyically- or mentally if you ask the others.

"Recharging isn't a race, squirt," And man it felt good to call someone that when you're 5'6"! "We need _fuel_, not cramps."

"Right, right."

Kait and Zell have been sparring in the field just outside of town. The two pretty much beat on each other until they dropped, and it was now time for some chow. Zell tugged on the bar of glass door allowing the teen in ahead of him he, after six other patrons taking his gesture of kindness for their own, then followed in after him.

"Shit! Look at how packed this place is!" He cranes his neck to see over the sea of hungry people. His blue gaze shifts from hair hue to racial color in disbelief

People of every make, shape, size, color, and gender are all squeezed into the tiny place hoping either for a table, stool, booth, or service in general. Some of the people even seemed to be standing as they eat! Hasn't anyone ever heard of getting a meal to-go?

"Look at the prices." Kait added to Zell's earlier comment. "Seven S-gil for a four Silver snapped meal? It is _definitely_ tourist season again."

"_That_ or the island has cloned everyone who lives on it about eight hundred times." Zell raised his arms over his head to show the unimaginable massiveness of it. "I wonder what red-haired me looks like?"

Grinning, Kait joined in on the mental weed. "I'm gonna find brown hair red streak me and tell him to become a model so I'll have even more money coming in than my cadet salary."

Zell laughed while giving the teen a sympathetic clap on the back.

Making eye contact with the skinny blond male behind the counter, Kait leans past a stool seated child and her Mom calling out their order over the loud murmur of the crowd. "Two salmon burgers and a sweet potato fry, and a garlic fry." After a thought he adds. "To go, please."

"Hey! Apologize, asshole!" Zell snapped at a guy who accidently gut-checked him with his elbow on his way out. Holding his side, he gave the teen a wild glare waiting for his apology.

"Sorry, ooooldman!" Tongue out in defiance, the red haired teen skirted through the crowd and out the door.

"Grandpa? Be lucky I don't hang you from a nail on a train post, you little punk!" He called after the punk, shaking his fist. Snorting bitterly, he says. "Kids these days."

"_Hey_, I'm a kid-these-days, and your fist shake could use some work." Reminded the sixteen year old, who then turned around when feeling a tap on his shoulder.

Spotting the mother of the little girl he'd leaned over- who's now whining over her boredom while she eats- he smiled at her thinking she wanted to be friendly until he spots the bag with his and Zell's food being handed over.

"Thanks." He says to both the waiter and the mother. Going through the bag, he snaps up some unboxed fries that fell into the bottom of the bag for a quick eat.

"You're one of the good ones." Says Zell when finding room to turn around.

The martial artist- who feels a lot like a sardine right now- grabbed a hold of the hood on Kait's black RUDE windbreaker to tug him along out of the diner. May as well use the tested and approved choo-choo method of escape. Although, with the way he's tugging him, he looks more like a bouncer shoving a kid from a club.

"You were raised by some pretty good dudes- one being myself."

"Uh-huh."

"It's _true_." He took in a deep breath of air once they got out of the diner and into some fresh air. "Though you could probably do without Seifer's attributes."

"Seifer's really cool," He plunks down on the single bench placed beside the park.

Normally they'd sit on the bench at the docks- being native Balambers and all they like to look at the sea; the bench is usually there for the seamen, but the town's people find it a nice place to have a seat and watch the boats come in, and apparently so do the tourist.

"Why wouldn't I wanna be like him?" He adds as an after thought.

"Yeah, get arrested when being around the 'cool guy' and see if you feel the same way about him." He gave an exagerant shudder.

Seifer had gotten drunk in Deling a year back, and sort of had a pee party on a fire hydrant while saying 'we fuck like dogs, why not pee like them!' Zell had tried to silence and stop anyone from seeing his lover's less-than-savory activity when a cop rolled up. Needless-to-say it was one shitty night. And Seifer's red-rimmed mug shot for indecent exposer will live on in the stars of his personal humiliations.

"Hyne, even the park is full of people." Zell says removing the contents of the bag.

As if on cue a child hurries over to the pair, swaying back and forth timidly- though he's bold enough to come up to them to ask. "Can I have a fry?"

Disbelief clear on his face, Zell scoffs and visually looks around for the kid's mother who should not only be feeding him, but seeing to that he doesn't take candy, or in this case, _french fries_ from strangers.

"Here kid, go nuts." The blond leans the box to the child who greedily snatched away a pinch rather than a single.

Snickering, Kait embelished on his satiated joy by 'mmm'ing' joyously and stomping his feet on the ground. "Is there anything better than sweet potato fries?" He practically rolled his eyes up in his head when the sweet meat of the potato stick went into his mouth, complimented by the crispy salty skin.

The diner always makes them just right.

Answering the rhetorical question as it was his sworn duty to defend his truest love even to this day, Zell says firmly. "_Yes, hot dogs!_ Dummy." He smirks around a bite of perfectly seasoned salmon burger.

His Ma really had it right when she'd picked the chefs to work at the diner. His Dad used his retirement money and bought the place from some young hot shot, who completely fucked it up when he'd owned it. Zell can remember the place. Pizza-Roma. The food was bad, the bathrooms were gross, and for the name of the place, he had yet to see a single pizza! Yes. The fail of that place was for the better. Look at how well it flurished. And his parents are happy and financially set, so he doesn't have to work hard to pay two sets of bills. Life is sweet.

"That's _your_ time, _graaandpa_." He teased with a nudge. "My gen'" And to emphasize the matter he chomps into several at once. "likes the fries."

"Oh, lame! I'm gonna remember that statement when we spar this weekend." He tugs a fat juicy yellow tomato free, licking off the zesty dressing before eating the slab.

"Mm-mm." Protest the younger male through intone, since he's currently swallowing a mouthful of his own fish burger. "Can't this weekend, Mara's got me."

Kait never calls his mother by her title when they aren't around each other, it's either Mara or Ms. Trejo. Since the kidnapping 7 years ago, the 3 of them have had some serious static, kind of like divorced parents battling to share custody even after the court ruling. Kait kept her safe from his fathers' want for blood because he calmed them down and saw that they understand things from her point of view. But that didn't make the court hearing any less frightening.

The whole situation was pretty intense. The lawyer on her side brought up progress reports from her time in the clinic, her sponsor, the other sponsees. Her psychiatrist. All with nothing but positive things to say. But for every good thing that came from Mara's corner, his fathers' lawyer shot it down with the accuracy of the sharpshooter himself. She's been absent from the boy's life for much too long, there was a chance that she never would have progressed so quickly had she still been with her son, or with help from the fact that she had forgotten that he ever existed; and they got the opinion of a psychiatrist of their own, who with a social worker, showed that Kait would have been removed from care reguardless treatments because they came too late. Damage had already been done, she killed Martin Redfield. And to ensure no harm would come to the child, Miles Redfield would have been put in foster-care.

But, for eight years old the boy was very wise and also very kind; and as earlier stated, he understood the situation from both ends. Mara lost hands down, but privately between the four of them, he very simply and very maturely asked that they share custody; Irvine, having just come into being a father when Kait was 4, though he had been the one to rescue him from that tree and named him, was the easiest to convince. Squall wasn't going to budge, but after having a talk with Laguna and Irvine he changed his angered 'Hell, no!' to a disgruntled 'Fine.'.

And so every six months he would switch homes, and its been going well since. Kait's goal is for her to know him, as Kait, not the dead son she'd lost so many years ago. He isn't that boy, and he never could be. Its probably part of the reason that he's never going to be comfortable with calling her mother, same as she will never be comfortable or even try to call him Kait. But when with her, he does make an effort to try- if only to get the same in return.

"Yeah?" Replied Zell.

"Mm-hmm." Snaking a few of Zell's garlic fries, he looked around the area at the tourent of tourist as they push and shove each other around the park or in lines for the souvenier shop, and all to buy tacky things like glass dolphin keychains, or little tanks filled with baby oil and blue food coloring making it appear as though you've got the rocking ocean in a bottle- there's even a little plastic fish and sea horse inside.

Fishing gear shops are loaded to the brim with people buying things they could get at Fisherman's Horizon for much cheaper than Balamb is selling it at the moment. Although, they all admit that if they weren't locals and used to submarine rides due to missions, the submarine ride with the glass bottom would be really fun- you even get a picnic! Its worth the money... even if its just circling the island.

"Oh... well, its good that you're spending time with her." He honestly thought that the custody shift had stopped when Kait hit his teens, that the boy's leaving was for school purposes. He leaves Balamb for Galbadia at the semester shift.

"Yeah." He balls up the paper bag his fries came in. "Just wish she'd stop calling me Miles." Stuffing the little ball into the larger bag, he then starts back in on his burger.

"Have fun at Galbadia then." Zell gave him a palsy pat on the back.

Smiling wolfishly, Kait kicked his legs out into the air like a child. "You know I will."

"Oh _will _you." He cocks a fine brow. "_Why_?"

Not that Zell doesn't like Galbadia; his best friend is from there- Hell- that time they'd gone there to hire Irvine for his services, he found the place to be athletically pleasing. He's always dreamt of Balamb having a better fitness system. Then maybe when the Garden Games are held they'd stand a better than a 40% shot at a victory. Even Trabia has them licked at ice hockey! Well, they are a winter school, so he guessed that made sense. But then Galbadia's got those humaniods- seriously- where'd those guys even come from?

"Leo."

Zell laughed hearing that. The kid could barely get the name out, he's that much in love. He remembered those times- wait, no he doesn't. Seifer was a jerk from day one, and as if life wasn't cruel enough, he had to go and fall for him! How had that happened anyway? A party? Yeah. The second generations graduation party. Seifer finally got back into Garden, had finally made SeeD, and he wanted to celebrate with a show of raw power; and in order to spare some poor little thing from that natural disaster, he offered himself to the beast.

It was strange too, because he'd never thought of himself or Seifer that way. But the 2 stuffed themselves in the empty library and fucked like rabid dogs until the party was over. It was hot, it was a rush, it was done without either party being drunk. And it carried more fireworks than the school produced that night. From there, it was history.

"Well, I'm done." Kait announced. "I need to go home and pack." Dropping the burger wrapper back into the main bag, he stands. "Thanks for the spar, Zell."

"Anytime, kiddo." Leaning his weight on the back of the bench, he slowly eats his lunch and takes in the scenery.

Kait got half way to the tiny market, where he planned to get a can of juice before going home, when he was swiped by best friend Raul. The 2 chat away rapidly before parting with a wave. A dog snapped and barked at a kid who kept pulling its tail. A mother picked up her son, holding him at her hip and soothing his tears over not being allowed a toy he spotted in the window of a store. And to a 3 year old, who speaks toy, he heard it calling 'take me, take me!'

A nice breeze rose up from the sea; a ship's horn goes off in the harbor. It seemed there is a lot of commotion going on over that way. And if you follow the small crowd you'd see that there is an attractive little fish fry going on over there.

"You say you'd like yours wit dat hot spices?"

"Yes, please." Replied the customer to the attractive chef, before breaking into a fit of giggles, unable to believe the gorgeous brunet is speaking to her and grinning like a movie star. Not to mention the handsome blond fisherman beside him is eyeing her through his sunglasses.

Flipping the yellow tail onto the warm grilled tortilla wrap, the chef gives a lemon a squeeze over the simple, but tasty dish. "There you are cutie, enjoy."

She was sure to brush his hand with hers when taking the little paper plate. When the crowd began to thin, the blond leaned back in his fold-out to say. "The hell is with the accent, Kinneas?"

"The crowd expects a heavy island." Irvine says merrily. "I ain't even from around here." He smiled sweetly at the next female customer. They've been getting a lot of ladies to come over since the first teen made her way over.

Seifer scoffed at the reply. "What Balamber do you know who talks like that?"

"How much?" Asks a middle-aged man, balding, and wearing a flower shirt with kahkis. Basic vacation attire. "I need enough for my family." And he looked every bit a father too.

"Three for five S-gil." Replied Irvine in his strange take on a Balamb accent.

"I'll take six." Reaching into his pocket for his wallet; he eyed the fishing ex-knight curiously, but Irvine seemed friendly enough so it must be legit.

It has been going like this for the better part of the day. Irvine saw Seifer down by the peer fishing so he rolled a tiny grill over, a cooler with a couple beers, sodas, and cans of juice over to hang out with him, offering to cook whatever was caught. Couldn't pass that up. And after Irvine hurried home for spices, he also brought with him some fold-out chairs and they had theirselves a nice little snack.

This seemed appealing to a few people who were lined up to eat in a restaurant, and they turned traitor on the place for a bite to eat that would be considerably quicker. And, believing it was a small little independant business, the orders just came flying in. And thank Hyne the fish were starving because the two were milking the masses for things they could have gotten at the same price normally- had it not been for tourist season. They even made lunch for the fishermen.

Grinning, Irvine says in a chipper tone "Heey sexy thing!" to his commited partner who'd just walked up behind the family man; who'd turned rather pale when the comment came bursting from the chef. "Come for some eats?"

"I beg your pardon?" Asks the customer pale and pink at the same time from embarrassment.

Confused by the comment, Irvine removed his sunglasses by resting them atop his head, and the man coul see then that he isn't looking at him but past him, when he gave the man his change.

"What are you two doing?" He leans over the grill to give the phony islander a peck on the lips.

Dropping the accent, he says with his own drawl. "Cleanin' up. Can you believe how hungry everyone on the island is because of the pile up?" Showing off the row of bars, he says with a sharks gleam in his eyes. "We've made five hundred gil, that's two fifty each- can you believe it?! Who knew doing a kindess could be so rewarding." Standing, he gestures for Squall to take his seat, while he crouched down beside him.

"You're stealing." He drops into the chair, fixing himself a taco with salsa and sour cream.

"No we're not. We're feeding hungry people- didn't you hear anything I'd just said?" Defends the sharpshooter, not about to feel like his gain is ill-gotten. "You make it sound like we're picking their pockets as they pass by."

"You may as well be."

"How so? They get something out of it."

"This isn't a real food-stand. So it doesn't make it right." As if he'd just noticed his committed's partner in crime, he nods while offering a very dry. "Seifer."

"Piss-ant." Reeling in the fishing line, Seifer then packs up his tackle box; more than ready to call it a day. Time with Irvine is fine, but all those padestrians? And now sour-puss Leonhart. Yeesh.

"Meanwhile," Irvine says returning to the dropped matter. "Every other business is doin' it. I'm only mad that we haven't thought of it years ago."

"I don't know, spending summers here..." He replied thoughtfully, then thought to himself. _"I kind of prefer hanging out in our summer get away home in Winhill.'_

Watching his lover's thoughtful expression, Irvine perks up. "We can still go." He loved the prospect of spending another summer fucking and fishing with his husband.

Imari's home became sort of a get away loveshack for the two; it was sorta like a cleansing of Imari's living there. Take away the bad and fill it with some good. They also take their time out there to work on their culinary skills to bring back home with them. Any failures... just have sex for dinner. Its better than continuing on with going through queasy delights as they had when first starting out as cooks. And they had to learn how not just for themselves but because they had a kid to think about, whom they'd of liked to feed more than fish sticks, chicken nuggets, and corn dogs to. And they genuinely wanted some skill under their belts. They successfully can pull of twelve meals between them now.

But fucking, cooking and eating, or fishing isn't the only thing they do out there. The two take chocobo rides out into the lush and dirt trailed fields of Humphrey Archipelago or the moutainous hills of Winhill Bluffs. Its very nice, and very peaceful, and- what the hell are they still doing in Balamb?

"I can be packed within ten minutes." And he cast Squall that sexy cocky smirk of his, being further egged on by the usually stoic male's laughter. "We'll take the next train out," Chomping into a bite of white fish offered to him; in Squall's will that he stop being fresh around company, but Irvine adds with a wink. "I'll carry you if I have to."

"I'll pass on that one. Besides, the girl's are coming out for a beach party so we can't leave until tomorrow." Looking out at the vast blue ocean, he then turns his gaze on his rival. "Have you seen Zell yet?"

"Not since he left the house this morning." Standing at his 6' 3" height he looks down at the seated males. "I was just about to ask you."

"No." He shakes his head. "I was at the gym."

"All the same, I'm going home." He pats Irvine on the shoulder.

"See ya around." He steals the abandoned seat, allowing his long legs to stretch out. Plate of fish tacos on his lap, he takes two bites then paused.

"What?" Squall asks when noticing the sour look on the sharpshooter's face. Taking Irvine's trembling hand, he cocks his head. "You look like hell's hit you."

"I feel like it too... like maybe I ate some bad fish." But he's rubbing his chest.

Cocking a brow, he gives his own plate a scrutenizing look before setting it down beside him on the ground. Let the ants have it. Noticing Irvine's hand is up at his chest, his thoughts swayed to the option of another problem. Could be dehydrated? It is not hot out today; the temperature hasn't gone higher than 74 degrees, but Squall glanced at the sky.

Standing, he reaches into the cooler. "Damn." He thought when seeing nothing but carbonated drinks. "Do you want a bottle of water?" Squall's at Irvine's side touching his clammy forehead briefly, he then rubs his back. _'He could just be overheated, but he's Galbadian, for Hyne's sake. That school is stationed in the hottest places on the planet half the time. They wear sweaters in 98 degree weather!'_ Maybe that was exagerating a bit, but Squall was sure it had nothing to do with the heat.

"No, I-..." His lurched forward with a pained growl, then as quick as a whip he threw himself back against the chair, and with his face aimed at the sky he let out a scream as loud and as powerful as the rolling waves.

Squall looked perturbed by what he's seeing and hearing, moreso when Irvine's eyes white-over and his open mouth and eyes glowed. It was like he'd been possessed and is now having the demon exorcised from him. The small crowd of people looked on frightened and confused as well, some even took out their phones to call for help on Squall's word.

One even came over. "Can I help?" He asked then yelped when Irvine stopped screaming and let his weight drop.

Squall caught his lover before his limp body before it could fall back out of the seat. "Fuck!" Lifting Irvine from the chair, Squall looks at the man. "Help me get him on my back." He kneels down with his arms lowered behind his back.

Almost afraid to touch the unconscious cook, the short black man helped Squall get Irvine onto his back. "Like this?" He asked unsure; as if there were some other way to get a man onto someone's back.

Not answering the ridiculous question, Squall adjusted the taller male on his back then started away. "Come on, Irvine." He says to the unconscious male.

...

Dr. Hubert wrote a little something on a sheet of paper in a file after checking Irvine's pupil dilation. "It isn't dehydration, or any sort of heat related condition." Turning off the flash light, he stuffs it into his coat's breast pocket. "A bit under weight, but otherwise he's in perfect health."

_'Hard to believe that if you'd seen what I did.'_ Thinks the male, arms crossed. _'I'd better explain it to him again.'_ Sighing in agitation, he says evenly. "It looked as if he'd had trouble breathing; his eyes went white, they were glowing... even from his mouth." He looked at Irvine, still knocked out on the bed. "He blacked out after, and I brought him here."

"There was something, the slightest blip when I gave him an x-ray. That could have just been from the machine having technical difficulties." But he waved him over to take a look.

Squall nods to show that he understood, and followed the doctor who's getting the x-ray sheet.

"But what had caused it... I can't say." He shrugged. "I'm at a loss."

A groan called their attention to Irvine. He shifts on the bed, putting an arm up over his eyes and raising his knees in order to help him sit up. Moving back to his lover's bed, Squall touches his shoulder.

"Irvine, do you feel all right?" Squall asks in concern.

Groggy, he rubs his eyes. "I feel just fine, but" He touched a hand to his chest. "Siren flew the coop."

"What do you mean?" He snatches the x-ray from the doctor. Looking it over, he notices dark patches, but he knows what they mean.

"I mean our contract has been severed, almost like it was _deleted_." He rubs his hand up his chest. "Clean ripped away."

"She didn't say anything about leaving?"

"Nothing." Turning his legs outward, he gets out of the bed.

The doctor felt extremely left out of the conversation due to confusion of the subject they're on. Contracts? Sirens? Doesn't make sense to him.

"Don't." He shoved him back toward the bed.

"What? I told you I feel fine."

"You've been unconscious for an hour."

That seemed to hault the male's hasty retreat. It felt like he'd been asleep only 10 minutes, at the most. He shakes his head. "_Regardless_, I feel fine."

Squall looked to Dr. Hubert who shrugged. How professional.

"I told you that he's in prestine health." Replied the man to Squall's lingering protesting glare. "I'm afraid I don't deal in magics, so you'll have to consult with a specialist concerning that matter."

"Fine. I'll call Dr. Kadowaki to come over and look at you." Finger up under Irvine's nose, he says authoritively. "But you're coming home to rest."

"Yes, dear." Replied the patient, before throwing the doctor a wild glance asking if he's ever seen a bigger worried wart?

The man smiled sympathetically, then went back to his desk to have a seat beside the window-fan with his feet propped up.

Out on the streets, Squall took the opportunity to call the doctor at Balamb Garden so she can give Irvine the once over. If it's magic related she'll know what to do. All the students in Garden get thorough examinations from her when they start using magic and G.F.s. With her Odine x-ray large and portable, she can see any problem effecting the cadets and instructors.

"No," He says to the doctor. "I'm sending him home now. How soon can you get out here?"

"Take your time, doc" Irvine called into the phone. "I'm sure its just a little G.F. master tiff." He shrugs. "Probably shouldn't have had her junctioned anyway; she probably just felt over-worked."

"Why are you junctioned?" He asked as the notion came to him.

It's not unusual to have spells on, but not G.F.s Its a cadet myth that wearing them around will bond you and your Guardian Force together faster, but Irvine isn't a cadet and he knows that it'll only happen through battle experience. So why?

"Incase Seif' and I caught anything that wasn't exactly edible." He kicks a rock with the side of his booted foot.

Glaring, Squall sighs. "You don't have sleep spells?"

"Not a one."

Rolling his eyes, he postured him. "Irvine that's abusive." He stopped walking to cross his arms and give him a disdainful look; but it only got him a apologetic kiss. "You may be right about the over-worked theory." Continuing the walk home, he adds. "I still want Kadowaki to look you over."

"Okay."

Holding his chin in contemplation, he thinks outloud. " shouldn't just rip themselves away from you like that, it could lead to some sort of side effects."

The statement was loaded with malice from the situation of Imari Karver that, to this day, Squall still holds venom towards. Irvine quickly dissolved the charge in the air by joking.

"Hey, if I start acting like a woman you can just lock me up and never look back."

"I'll keep that in mind." Pushing open the front door, he steps inside and looks around for signs of life other than their own. He can hear music playing faintly from the hall, but that could be reverb from the music playing from the speakers in town.

"Kaaait!" Leave it to Irvine to have a direct approach.

Wincing away from the boom, Squall had to look at the man in wonder over how he ever became a sharpshooter, all that waiting around and hiding in quiet stealth- the loner silence- doesn't really fit the longer running upclose and personal Irvine he's come to know. Not to say he's all goofy either, there was that loner side of the marksman that he was made privy of a few missions back, and frankly, thinking about it made him hot. It stirred that preditor in Squall that made him wanna fuck the skin off his lover. Eyes sharpened with need, he wets his lips looking at the male.

"What?!" Kait shouted. "I'm here!"

Buzz kill. Kait's home.

"Alright!" Irvine calls up the stairs while heading for the kitchen.

Squall shook the sexual spell away that came over him. Following after Irvine, he wondered how he'd allowed their son to become a shouter like the sharpshooter. Grabbing him by the strap of his purple tank, he asks. "What are you getting? Will you go lie down?"

"I want some juice." Groans the defeated male making a bee-line towards the stairs. "I'm thirsty and you left everything at the harbor." He complained all the way to their bedroom.

At least Squall thought that he was going into their bedroom, until he heard Irvine talking to Kait.

"When are you heading out?"

"In fifteen." He replied. "Are you sick? You look pale."

"No."

"Yes." He smirked seeing that he'd startled the adolescent adult in the room.

Glancing from Squall to Irvine, the teen asks with concern in his eyes. "You looked fine earlier, what happened?"

"_Nothing_ and I'm _fine_." He takes the bottle of orange juice from Squall when he was close enough to reach him. "Thank you."

Squall comments to their son. "Siren broke her contract with him."

The teen winced in thought of his own magic struggles. He's not sure what the issue is, he can use G.F.s no problem, but when it comes to casting and drawing... he has a few slip-ups. But he works on it daily- he's wearing Protect right now!

Glancing in his son's duffle, he rolls his eyes. "Kait, put your weapons in your bag. You know I don't like it when you carry them out in the open."

Inwardly groaning, he all but stamped his foot in protest. "They're not 'out in public', I have 'em shealthed. And" To drive his point home. "you guys carry yours in public all the time." Frowning, he unlatched the holster around his waist then dropping the matching Katara-guns into his bag, its zipping it up. "There."

"Better." Patting the boy proudly on the bicep, he takes a seat on the bouncy bed.

Squall hates the 'goodbye' part, never has liked it and never will. So he chose to instead stare around the bedroom while Kait and Irvine laughed away and said their goodbye. They since changed homes from living in the apartment, and instead had a house built for them just outside of town. Its a strange sort of shape from overhead, its shaped like an L. for the main part, but there was a dojo built in the bend of the shape; you can see down into it from the hall window. Right down through the bamboo slatted roof is a room with sand beneath the removeable wooden floor-boards. The walls have special mats against them made by Odine products, they're also used in Garden, and they absorb magic when it's thrown at them. There's a closet inside that houses their weapons, and other wonderful little features that the sharpshooter and gunblade specialist just had to have. Its their marriage house, the place they plan to grow old in together, so it has to be special.

Kait couldn't wait to have a new canvas for a wall, so some artist could leave their mark from his design on it. Watching the boy grow up was also like watching a huge change in character portrayed from these walls and the former walls- restored white now that they've moved. A room that once held birds changed to a jungle, then to surfers that had his face and his favorite surf buddy Zell's face on them with waves crashing all around from that one wall that held the two. Then he got one of a pride of lions- that being Squall's favorite, to the current wall in their new home.

Not your typical teenaged boy's room that would have idols or vixens on the wall, body builders maybe, but more grown-up for sure. And with the way things are going it seemed he'd be sticking with it so long as he lives in the home. Kait joined the academy at fourteen years old and the walls he asked be left white with the exception of the accent wall directly infront of his bed, like a mural of trophy and admiration because it has different styles of intricately painted guns and gunblades there, one half for each weapon, and in the center is a shelf that once held his prized clown and stuffed moomba, Jojo and Samba. Now it holds proudly his beloved weapons: the katara-gunblades.

The model was made when Blaster-Tonfas became popular amongst female students, but much like the gunblade proper cadets found them hard to use and only a select few students have been able to master them. The reason is due to the double-edged nature of them and the use of the kataras when not using the handguns. But with Irvine as his trainer, and his grandfather's best friend Kiros the boy was a master his first year using them. He's currently working on his hand to hand martial arts skills, to co-exist with his official style of Mardani and Salimbam- of which he's superb.

You wanna talk about pride, Squall and Irvine celebrated with their son and the others clean through 2 in the morning; the boy is practically a conjoined triplet with the weapons.

"Bye Little Bird," He squeezed him tightly. "don't get frustrated with the small stuff, alright? Just cast what you feel comfortable with."

"I won't. Bye, Pop." He squeezed him tightly with a smile. No matter the age, the boy is a hugger. "I'll tell the fossils you say 'hey'."

Releasing the teen, he chuckled. "Thanks." Casting Squall a glance, he jiggles his empty bottle of orange juice. "I'm gonna rest now, let me know when the doc gets here."

Squall watched his lover's departure then stood up. "Try not to get into too much trouble with your friends- and non-friends."

"Okay." Gripped into a hug with one arm, he feels some gil slipping into his pocket with the other. "I swear the only trouble I'll be getting into is filtching food." With a wink he adds. "And being so awesome the other cadets wanna beat me up."

Smirking, Squall replied. "It runs in the family. Why do you think I'm stuck with Seifer."

"Yikes. Well, hopefully I won't end up BFFs with that pain in the ass Hyland Strand."

"Yeah."

"I'm going to the station to wait, I'll see you guys in December." Hoisting his duffle over his shoulder, he salutes the male then walks out.

Following him into the hall, he walks towards his bedroom until he hears Kait shouting. "Doctor Kadowaki's heeeeere!" The front door closed directly after.

"So where's the patient?" Asks the brunet woman with skunk lines of grey through her aged hair. Wandering through the living room, she looks around.

"I'm in here!" Irvine called while walking out of the bedroom door. "It's because Siren's gone." He says rather casually considering he'd missed an hour of his day, he's following behind Squall down the stairs.

"Left on her own?" The doctor pulled a device from her bag; a small handheld x-ray with a screen and a medium-sized handle coming from the center. Able to see the G.F.s encryption codes with this device, Kadowaki runs the thing up and down Irvine's chest looking at the little screen to spot the problem. "I see nothing out of the ordinary considering how she left." Her brow rose when spotting a dark smudge almost carved into Irvine's ribs from the sign of Palidor.

Its unusual to see a carving since normal G.F.s just leave the glowing imprint; but since Palidor is an Esper there is still so much about the creature and its found bretheren that the group and researchers know nothing about.

"He passed out from the pain." Squall chimed in. "Said it felt like she was torn out, not that she'd left."

"Has this ever happened before?" Asks the doctor while pressing a button to zoom the camera.

_'We wouldn't have called you if this were a normal occurance.'_ Thinks Squall crossing his arms.

"Don't get cute, Squall." Says the woman with a shaking of her fist. "Marriage has made you more mouthy."

"I didn't say anything." Replied the accussed.

"No. But you were thinking it." Her smile is motherly while at the same time repremanding. To Irvine she asks. "Do you currently have any spells on you?" She removed the machine and placed it back into her bag.

"Some left over Regen."

"Mm." She intoned thoughtfully. "I'm going to need you to cast it, please."

"On myself?"

"Yes."

Raising his hand he chants the words to conjure the spell then cast Regen. The 2 spectators watch the glow shimmer around the male, lighting the room like a christmas decoration would.

"Looked normal." Having seen it all. "How do you feel? Was there any strain?"

Shaking his head, Irvine replied. "_'_bout the same." Though he kept it to himself that he felt weird casting a replenishing spell on his uninjured body. Its like taking steoroids, or going to gym when you can't fit one more muscle in your body.

"Why do you think Siren would leave?" She asks while packing what little she'd removed for the examination.

"Dunno. I had her junctioned but didn't really use her."

"Mm. I see." She felt Irvine's chest and ribcage for good measure, but he didn't even wince at the sudden intrusion. "Did you try calling her back?"

"Since leaving the hospital, and she's not picking up." He grabs the band of his ponytail thoughtfully. "It's almost like she's vanished from any relm. I even took a life potion for G.F.s, but she didn't come back." With a shrug he adds. "At least she's not dead."

"Really?" She was impressed he'd thought it that far through. Not that she thinks the sharpshooter is simple-minded, but its just not something people bother with when it comes to beings from another world. "That's very strange indeed. Squall, is Shiva giving you any issue?" Kadowaki asked knowing that the icy female is similar to Palidor when it comes to Squall, she may not be junctioned but she's always at his ready.

"Its normal." He replied quickly, not wanting self examination himself.

"Not like a summon to just run off... where could she be?" She wonders.

Irvine sighed, hopeless with the subject he decides to dismiss it. No use worrying and wondering when every question brick walls. "I'll keep trying to contact her. Where could she go after all?"

8 8 8

The Zealots all scramble away from the large machine as it trembles and flashes in its use. The Sorceress, on her throne, watches with held breath. Her men have been working on this machine for years and it seemed that the work was finally going to pay off. The large beam of light began to form into a woman's shape.

Her black painted lips tug up in smirk, practically a spiral when the Summon began to really take form. The long curve of Siren's lithe body, from her toes to that delightful patch of blonde hair at her center, and all the way up to that tri-colored hair of hers.

Siren took a moment to drink it all in, the view she's now seeing compared to the one that only moments ago she's seen are complete opposite. Where she'd once seen miles of blue ocean, beautiful sky, and a drift of people has turned into a walled up, dank, thick darkness or a cave. The patrons and Seifer Almasy, whom she'd once had the pleasure to contract with, instead is a sea of white heads and black or brown robes. And in the center of it all sits a woman. Her eyes and even her posture just as cold and unwelcoming as death in battle. The thing that stuck out to the Guardian Force the most is that she looks like the enemy... A Sorceress.

Her siren's cry rang out in a high tone and a tidal wave of sound washed over all the ears in the room, dropping them almost in a coma to the floor. Everyone but the mad woman at the end of the cave, she only raised her hand to stop the wave as if it were never there. She gasped in shock when the Sorceress stood and approached the machine, her sprite voice screamed and called out for help while she thrashed and spun, trapped inside the machine like a genie in a bottle. Trapped.

"Relax yourself, Siren. You'll soon find that _this_ is Heaven," She spread her arms as if the horrible dark cave had suddenly grown bright and sunny, filled with big puffy clouds and cherubs. "You'll be fighting for a _real_ purpose. You'll never have to serve a human again- in a sense- you'll be free. Free to live in _their_ world; no longer pushed into an astrol relm, no longer hidden away as a back-up plan in battles you don't truly wish to fight."

Snapping her fingers all the fallen men awaken.

"I just need to borrow that voice of yours for a moment." Azena touches the glass. "And if you co-opperate you won't feel a thing. ...Though, no promises." With a careless shrug of the hand, she paces before the tank. "Such is trial and error I'm afraid." Addressing the first man to rush to her side, she says hungrily. "Start the machine."

The Zealot bowed and full-filled his mistress's wishes. Turning on the machine, he instructs her to set her hands down onto a needle poking up from the podium stuck inside a handle bar long enough for room for both hands.

Siren shrieked and screamed sleep and silence spells over the room but her frantic panic soon subsides when the machine begins to work and all her fight and struggle just calmed. Her eyes, once closed in pain, open revealing her whited over pupils. A pod. Ready for command.

"Lovely." Azena's honey voice dripped like acid from her a snakes fang. "Siren? Siren can you hear me?"

The Guardian Force hummed in her lilting voice; her sing-song tone held no life in it. No passion.

"Men," She grunted when her hands remove from the machine.

The pain was instant and powerful, good thing she only used some of her power. It could have killed her otherwise. But the pain is worth the pleasure in the end. Helping his mistress, two Zealots help her back to her seat.

"Prepare the soldiers for Viyanagara. They will be the first to taste the end." Seated, she let her pains rest. "There isn't anyone in this world who will stop my rule."

A man stepped forward, head bowed and he kneels. In a low whisper he tells Azena what he knows.

"SeeD? What on earth is a SeeD that it would pose threat to me?"

Still very softly the man speaks; the Sorceress's curious expression became amused to the point that she'd actually laughed.

"A special force, you say?" She taps her fingers rapidly on the arm of her throne. Cackling madly after a played with thought of such a threat, she shakes her hand to dismiss the idea. "I fear no weapon of man, and no magic can truly hurt me. What is there to fear of a cute, little, _insignificant_ SeeD?" Assured, she sends the Zealot away from her immidiate sight with a brush of her hand. "With Siren's hypnotism and my paramagics- no- not even SeeD can stop me." Standing, no longer feeling the effects she calls out. "Viyanagara is or goal, then we work our way around. If we come across SeeD they will be crushed with the rest of the planet."


	2. Call of Duty

_**Announcer: All passangers for Balamb Town report to the platform. I repeat, all passangers for Balamb Town, report to the platform.**_

This is the seventh announcement he's heard within the hour.

_**Announcer: All passangers for Deling City report to the platform. I repeat,**_

"All passangers to Deling City, report to the platform." Kait mimicks the very human announcer's robotic mantra.

Kait paced back and forth a small portion of the train station in Timber, waiting as patiently as he can on the switch board to change from Delayed to Running into Galbadia Plains. He's been layedover for a good fourty minutes now, and he's starting to lose hope that the train will ever come in.

He went in and out of mental boredom by balancing on the edge of benches, or land and concrete trimming. He began to blast at passersby like he were holding his katara-gunblades, and all the people were snarling monsters looking to tear the flesh from his body, or render him dead for its family to eat for dinner... and maybe dessert if they save his feet. This adorable little black boy played along by powering up and standing on a bench claiming that he was a mighty G.F. and would join his party for an while if Kait could defeat him. The battle was tough, the Chocoboy had many things thrown at him- namely white _tic-tacs _that Kait had in his pocket.

When the little boy finally admitted defeat, Kait let him join his party for an ice cream-popcicle from a stand not far from the train station; the little boy's Mother got around to snagging him, when their train arrived. He then played _T_riple _T_raid with a couple girl's who were giggling at his antics while they waited for their own train. He won two out of the six matches played, because he isn't the best at Esthar rules, and he played Trabian and Balamb rules the times that he'd won.

Another guy, waiting for a train to another location in order to hop a train from there, told him stories about his cadet days. And when he was gone, Kait was bored again, and just staring around the station area. He then began to see how far he could walk away from the station before he was called back because the train showed. ...He got to the edge of town.

Bored again, and staring at his boots tap dancing for him while he sits on a bench. It seemed like everyone had to re-evaluate their plans into Southern or Western parts of the world. What could be going on with the trains today? When he found himself practicing hand-stands, he knew he was truly losing it.

Phone in hand, he thumbs through the address book to find Mara's name. "Mom, its me." He just did a reenactment of a drink commercial by slapping his forehead with the palm of his hand.

Of course she knows its Kait, no one else would call her 'Mom'.

"Anyway, the reason I'm calling is because the trains aren't running into the Plains today. They're actually not running to a lot of places, so I'm stuck in Timber right now..." He listens to her. "I'm gonna keep checking back, but its getting late and I might end up staying overnight or transfer over to Dollet later after I eat. But, I'm just telling you not to worry about me if I don't make it in today."

He looked pained as he waits for the answer, which he hopes isn't a mental freak out. She's like Squall in stereo, because he'll give you the uncomfortable 'I'd rather you be around me' vibe while Mara nags, and gets on your case like a Mother.

The rest of the conversation, now that his point was made, is something like this:

"Okay." To 'well, if it can't be helped.'

"You too." To 'I love you.'

"Bye." He hangs up.

"Phew!" He swiped the back of his right hand across his forehead for dramatic effect. Infact that went so well, he feels like trying it out. That magical thing hero's do after a really bitching, and really tiring, and everyone is proud and looking to releave battle tension... Victory dance!

Graceful as a broken chicken's wing, his arms swoop out and over his head like a tidal wave, then he raises his right hand in the air, leaving the other on his hip. Victory. Or not. Seems a little short... Well, he's working on it! Victory dances don't come easy.

"Ahaha!" Came an all too familiar laugh from behind the boy. "I know that isn't my nephew getting his groooove on over there!"

"Selphie, Rinoa, hey!" He waved.

He's actually really glad to see them. He had only brought enough money for the one train over, not all the layovers and alternate rides he's dealing with.

"What are you doing here?" Rinoa asks over his shoulder, when giving the teen a hug after Selphie detached herself from the launch on him she'd done. "I thought you'd be in Galbadia by now. Are you ditching going to Mara's house?"

"No. The train isn't running into the Plains, so I'm waiting around." He shrugs. "That, and no one was willing to kidnap me so..." He smiled when Selphie laughed at his joke.

"Wanna chill at our place while you wait?" Nudging him with her elbow, Selphie whispers like her words are a secret. "Its freee."

"I was hoping." He put his hands together in plead of something already offered.

"Yup!" Digging into her pocket she removes the apartment key. Handing it to Kait she says. "Guard it with your life."

"I will."

Looking over the switch boards, Rinoa cocks her head. "Does that mean we can't get into Balamb Town?"

"No. That's running fine." He scoffs then. "Good luck finding a room, its tourist season."

"Eeee. I forgot." Groans Rinoa.

"I like tourist season! A lot of my friends from Trabia come over." She bounces excitedly from foot to foot, with her arms spread out like she's drawing in love-of-friendship itself to hug. "I can't wait to get over there!"

It was like Santa had delived the Balamb train to the girl the way it pulled into the station right at that moment. Patrons poured out, and without even a single look over her shoulder, Selphie sideways galloped on through the opened door. Rinoa watched with amusement at her friends insane excitement habits, but she had to admit it, a person could really feed off Selphe Tilmitt's jolly nature. Even if they don't mean to. Although at the age of 30 plus, one has to wonder where she gets all that energy of a teenager?

"Bye Kait;" Rinoa waves before crossing the threshold onto the train. "eat whatever you like. See you in December!" She called through the closing door.

Smiling, he raises a hand. Watching the train's departure, he turns away then and heads for the girls' apartment.

8 8 8

Squall cried out when he feels the shot rake up his spinal cord, creating a buzz at the back of his head just like its buzzing at his tailbone. He arched and bowed his back while rocking forward and back into the pleasureful object. His breaths are rasp and rapid; and he hated that he's panting for more but dying of lust and need when the vibration would go on longer than a short few seconds when Irvine whispers into his ear, neck, or between his shoulderblades _Bang._

He really hates when Irvine wants to show off toys, and by toys he's refering to bedroom toys, because he doesn't wanna know that it feels good. He likes what Irvine does to him, not some object. But damn him, he just keeps saying that its something he has to try; Squall doesn't even get to cave, he's just brought into it by Irvine pleasuring him with his own sex then slipping the toy in on him. Before it was a docking sleeve, which turned out to be really fullfilling because they used it to mutually masterbate while making out. Then there were the glass dildos with hot and cold functions, he still uses that one when Irvine's on a mission for longer than a week or so. This time its a speciality toy dildo with a gun in the back, you squeeze the trigger and it sends vibrations through the penis shaped barrel, and with the violent wriggle the damned thing is masterful; especially the painted picture, of Squall surrendering to the outlaw that's grabbed him from his normal life of working the piano at a saloon. And at gun-point he's asked to do things: sucking fingers, genital, nipples, or to moan a certain way, touch himself... whatever Irvine had in mind.

He felt himself twitch when the toy was removed and Irvine filled him immidiately after. The difference diserably noticeable, and he shivers at being moved with his committed's guidance of thrust and hands gripping his hips. His voice sounded almost on its own when Irvine's tongue ran up the back of his ear, flicking at the stud on the lobe when it traced back down.

Irvine released a soft whimper into Squall's shoulder when he felt the male's sweat sheened torso flex beneath his hand, and he tastes the perspirated heat coming from his body by enclosing his mouth around that strong shoulder and giving it a suckle.

Their pace picked up, as if they needed release at that very moment, or they'd both meet their end to a heart attacked from shockwaves clashing with their bodies' normal pulse patterns. Volume picked up from the pounding bed, the slap of their skin, the shortness of their breaths. This is what wanting it so bad it hurts is like, every touch and move is obsessive to a crying degree. The gun's barrel rolled and shook its way up Squall's inner thigh and between; when reaching the bind between his legs, meaning his genitals, it went a little farther back from there and tapped Irvine's bobbing shaft causing them both to come to an end... They fell into a mess on the bed, sweat beaded, hair dampened in an almost showered and shampooed state.

Their voices gone, they both just sort of pant air instead of verbal sound. It was through then that they noticed the phone buzzing, and both just sort of squint through the darkness in its direction on the dresser.

"Tell whoever that is 'no'." Says Irvine drowsily.

"Assuming I'm gonna answer it." Comments the equally drowsy male.

But he had enough strength left to roll over onto his back, and grab Irvine by the cheeks to bring him down for a make-out session of the French kind; they can worry later about who's on the phone. Tonight they need some alone time.

...

"What the hell?!" Zell says when the voicemail comes on. "I know they're at home."

"Are you kidding?" Seifer comments to the very 'harumphed' blond at his side. "Those two haven't had a moment alone in six months. You really think they're gonna answer the phone? Not likely."

"Tch. You're awfully understanding for someone who gets off on playing Interrupting-Cow." Grumpy, he then mutters. "They could at least pick-up to say they're not coming out."

"Oh please, Dinky." Seifer rolls his eyes. "I'm not in the mood to hear you whine like a girl over this, we're supposed to be watching a movie with the Messenger girl and the Princess." Slapping his hand onto the shorter blond's muscular shoulder, he spins him in direction of the line's movement. "Let's focus on that."

"FINE." He huffs like a four year old denied the battery power of a piece of candy.

Stationed still for a moment, Zell then moves out of line a bit to box at the air. A couple back-hands and upper-cuts should cheer him right up. It isn't that he doesn't like the girls or anything, he loves hanging out with them! They've become dear friends and are practically sisters of his. But sometimes, he liked for them all to be together when hanging out in crowds of more than 2 people.

"Uh-oh." Says Rinoa's when approaching the pair. "What's got Zell boxing shadows?"

"Isn't it obvious, he hates you and Selphie's company." Replied the ex-knight while chuckling around a cigarette he's currently lighting.

"Aaww," Says Selphie moving into the line of fire, countering Zell's punches. "well you'll just have to endure us until the movie's over. Hiii-yah!" Her palm clapped against his forehead.

Swatting at her baby taps, Zell shakes his head. "Don't listen to Seifer, I just wanted Squall and Irvine to come along with us."

"So call them." Selphie, always with the simple sollutions.

"I did, they ignored me." He's now batting at the girl's hands, which are circling him with little pokes and slaps on the abs, butt, or top of the head while her poking fingertips landed him anywhere else.

"Well, Kait's not at home. They need some alone time." Rinoa says, feeling the need to explain.

"I know." Zell replied sternly. "Seifer already told me aaall about it. I just think its rude to the girls that they're not hanging out with us on your first night in."

"You didn't have dinner with us." Rinoa contradicts.

Selphie joined in by saying. "You didn't meet us at the train station."

"Okay." Zell cuts in.

"Didn't come to the hotel with us to check-in, only to have to be turned away because they're booked." Continuing with the teasing, Rinoa says.

"I get it!"

"And even though you offered us a room at your houses, you didn't-... mm mm mmm." Selphie tries speaking through a covered mouth.

"Clam up! I get it! Sheesh." He chuckles. "You guys suck." He says when releasing Selphie's chattering mouth.

"Shit. Looks like _Warlings_ is sold out." Seifer says through their jabbings. "Damn tourist- you know the movies here are no different than where you originally came from!" He notified anyone who unintentionally is listening. "Why not spend your few days here buying trinkets, or smut mags."

Blinking up at the ex-knight, Zell shakes his head. The taller blond just scoffs at the look.

"Sometimes knowing you is really awkward." Zell says when seeing the snark and shifty looks they're now receiving.

"I'm only saying it because its true." Replied Seifer.

"Isn't it funny how the truth is easier when its just being rude." Comments Rinoa.

Selphie shrugged. "Seifer's right, though. I really wanted to see this movie. The explosions are HUGE and in 3D!"

"See." He wraps an arm around the girl's shoulders. "I always thought you were the smartest of the girls."

"Thank you." She beamed.

"I hear the martial arts are really sweet too." Mopes Zell, now for a new reason. "Well, what else?" Looking over the poster options, he groans over every other one. "I don't know if I'm in the mood for anything but action."

"We could take a page from the Kinheart's and stay home and fuck."

"What about Rinoa and me?" Hands on her hips, she cocks her head to the side.

"Don't stain anything." Seifer replied coolly, receiving the same fist-o-fury treatment Zell got a moment ago. Placing his hand on her forehead he easily held her assault back.

"You know I'm not a lesbian." Selphie mock fusses while trying to hit him.

"Right, Serge... okay bi."

That did it. Backing away from his hand, she launches herself at him. "Yyyaarrrr!"

Averting his body out of the line of fire, Seifer lifts the girl off the ground and spin-cycles her.

Watching his lover treat Selphie like a ragdoll, Zell reminds them of their current sitaution. "So what are we seeing?"

"We can watch _Perfect Form_." Rinoa suggest.

"Ugh... isn't that a horror film about plastic surgery?" Zell shakes his head. "I'll walk out feeling all tingly, and not in the good way."

"Okay, how 'bout... _Still Waters_?"

"Not a... actually, sure, that could be kinda cool."

"Yay, us." She threw her fist in the air. "I hope they don't sell out before we get to the front of the line."

"Yeah." He let himself be swayed back and forth with Rinoa's movement, when she wrapped her arms around him and placed her chin on his shoulder.

"What are we seeing?" Selphie asks when Seifer finally released her. "The water thing?" She recalled some of the conversation the two were having while she was going through the rinse-cycle.

"Great. I like watching people get what's coming to them." Seifer asks for four tickets when he reaches the booth. "In the briny deep, and surrounded by jellyfishes and sharks."

"Don't spoil it!" Zell charged in. "I haven't seen it yet."

"What else can go on in a movie based on being stuck out at sea?" Wondered the taller blond.

Reaching for his **Creds**-card, he swiped it through for 20 gil after the army of three, including his own, ordered their snacks.

"Finally! Movie niiight!" Cheered Selphie heading into the viewing room. "Ooh! Ooh!"

"Yeah, just make sure you keep it down when the movie starts." Seifer playfully commands.

"Yeah, yeah." She chuckled.

...

Irvine arched his back at the swirl of tongue passing the slit on his member's head. His thighs clench when Squall hums from the musky, sweetish offering on his tastebuds, and he bobbed his head up and down to elict more droplets by playful ministrations with his tongue and teeth.

He pulled off in order to run his tongue beneath the sniper's sex, up and then down to his sacks where he gave them a ride around the opening of his mouth with his tongue, clamping down to give a light tug. He had to smirk at Irvine's hand winding around in his semi-elongated hair- six inches from the neck- grown out for the six months that their son was staying with them, just to indulge the sharpshooter in what it was like when he'd gone missing many years back. He refused this way and that, until Irvine made fun of him by saying he has to prove he can. He could start going bald at fourty! That's impossible of course, his Father still has a damned ponytail no matter how grey its gotten. So, genes-wise, he'd say he's in a pretty good place.

But he can't deny Irvine. It goes both ways really. Squeezing the male's rear he lifts his hips up and raises his own, pushing with lubed-ease into his lover's before-fingered entrance. He road the cowboy like he were a bucking bronco, the refrence has to be used since he's wearing the cowboy's hat. Slowing the pace, Squall's now looking down at the bull who's long legs are wrapped around him; head cocked, he thinks of what he'd like to do to this lengthy pummel horse of his.

...

The four movie goers are watching with eyes wide over the horror playing out before them. How is the couple going to survive out at sea with no boat!? Selphie actually covered her eyes when the jellyfish were floating closer and closer to the man's flipping legs. He had to stay a float, he couldn't very well let himself sink, could he?!

"Oh Hyne!" She cried out like the jellyfish had just hit her instead of the actor. "Is it over?" She asked while the male and female characters scream in pain of each shock. Peeking, she turned green.

"Shit." Zell says, feeling a little green himself. The sting broke clean through the wetsuit.

Even Seifer was speechless in horrified amazement. He honestly wasn't sure he could have stood 2 of the numerous stings the pair have taken.

"Hyne... Can't they just swim somewhere else?" Rinoa watches as the screen goes dark.

All four groaned at what new horror would pop-up, while also letting out their relief over the fact that the jellyfish assault is over. Then came the storm...

...

Having pushed and thrust into Irvine, Squall parts the male's legs to rest at the sides of the bed and from there he raised his knee to step over the exhausted male's hickeyed thighs, and moved from being in Irvine to having Irvine inside of him again.

Irvine's hips buck in such a way that its like that isolated portion of his body is having a seizure, the sudden incasing of Squall's inner heat was mindblowing! Only to follow it up with moving off of him to once again enter him. Aaa, the magic of circus tricks; only in their case it would seem that the tamer is the one being manipulated by the lion.

...

Rinoa couldn't believe she'd watched the scene with the thunder storm. It was too much, while at the same time breath taking. She couldn't believe how black the room got then blue from electric jolts of the lightning storm going on in the film.

"I'm emotionally exhausted." Confessed Selphie, resting her weary head down on Zell's shoulder.

Laughing, the human pillow leans his head on the top of the girl's. "It'll be over in another twenty minutes, don't cry."

To which Selphie's reply is to laugh into his shoulder.

...

The two lean forward in the chair, watching hard the scenes playing out on the television.

"Heeelp, pleeease." Cried a woman playing out the reenactment of the actual person who's telling the tale.

"It was a nightmare, and I couldn't believe that the baby I raised could come after me the way he had."

"The baby I raised." Mimicked Irvine with a roll of his eyes.

Washed, and dressed in pajamas, the two sat theirself down for some latenight television in the living room. Whatever Zell had wanted seemed to be long forgotten since he's not answering his phone the two times they called to check. At least that's a sign that it wasn't really important. Squall hoped the little go-getter wasn't too upset about being blown off, but what can he expect when they haven't had many nights or mornings alone with their son being around the house, or they're working at Garden. Thankfully its _off_ season and the second wave of instructors are taking control- at the moment anyway, because they'll be back at Garden two weeks from now.

But back on topic, with their appetites quelled, they're watching one of their favorite television shows _Obsessive Attractions_, where seemingly normal people go into idiot-mode over a monster that they believe they can turn into a pet. Some of the stories can be so bad that relatives have to tell the tale, because the person who'd owned the monster is dead! A man died when his beloved pet Catapillar used Stop on him!

He had to have known it was coming! There's just no way people can be that ignorant. _And_ he lived alone! The guy didn't stand a chance. In battle, when a party member is stopped its cause for immediate attention, otherwise the body loses oxygen and, Goodnight Charlie. You'd never see anyone involved in Garden- in any generation- doing something as foolish as a civilian.

The current episode is about a woman who's decided that a wandering Adamantoise was too cute for words, and she brought it in to live with her. Those things grow at the rate of a dog or cat, and soon that palm-sized turtle needed a bath tub, then it was locked in a room... then it was clawing her back open. Duh. She's now living with an iron plated back, and missing arm. Although the two supposed it could have been worse.

The most commonly taken monster are the Anacandaurs, by men mostly. Women usually go for cute things like the turtle or Tonberries. Now and then its switched and its the woman with most deadly of the true stories. And Squall and Irvine have become addicted to the absolute madness of it all. They secretly cross their fingers for types of nutbars. People who'll get Wendigos, always a favorite to hear about because sometimes you get to see real photos of the damage done, or people who get Bombs- that'd be really fun to hear about. Fuzzy little Death Claws or Toramas. The happy possibilities were endless.

"Coming up next, a man tries to raise Mesmerize."

The two erupted with joy, to the point where they actually gripped a high-five from each other.

"Hey lovebirds!" Says Selphie bouncing into the home. "We just saw the best movie tonight."

"Is that what Zell called about?" Asks Squall, before taking a sip from his of glass cranberry juice.

"Uh-huh." Flopping down on the couch between them, she looks at one then the other, then down at where she's sitting. "It wasn't on the couch, was it?"

"No." Replied Squall rather snarkly.

He hates when people try to talk about his sex life- even teasingly. There are just some things friends shouldn't be familiar with, like 'how much' and 'how'.

"Touchy!" She smiled, hardly offended by anything rudely toned from Squall. "Well, I've got movie lag... I'm off to bed. Thanks for letting me stay over." Waving, Selphie exits the room.

"A movie? Well, that mystery's solved." Comments Irvine.

Reaching for a cracked pepper dorito, Irvine shoves it in whole, crunching into it quickly to avoid missing anything said, now that the show has come back. They watch in interested disgust, and amusement as a man's brother has to tell his tale. Too gruesome! He was split in half by the once docile horse tossing its horn! Yikes.

While the show is ending with exciting previews of the next episode; they clean up their snack then move upstairs, where the night ritual starts with brushing their teeth in the en-suit bathroom, turning out all the lights in the house, locking up, then climbing into bed. Your basic bedtime stuff. But Irvine got out of bed one last time to shut the almost forgotten blinds, then crawling back into bed the two drift off to sleep.

Sleep hit everyone hard. Seifer, Zell, and Rinoa. Squall, Irvine, and Selphie. Kait. None of them knew of the horrors going on while they sleep. No one knew, except those about to live it...

Darkness, it swelled up from the deepest reaches, and welled up into a dark black cloud above Centra... while they were sleeping.

The cloud drifts and swims through the sky darker than the ocean's darkness reflecting against the clouds, darker than the sky revealing the stars in space... while they were sleeping.

The cloud was different in more ways in one because it called the wind with it, and the wind was different. The wind didn't hooo. The wind didn't blow. The wind didn't mess around by moving things along with its rippling current. This wind screamed. Like a banshee, like a terror, in a whistle and storm of sorrow and despair. And it whistled hungrily... while they were sleeping.

When dawn came, slowly, the cloud was pulling into the small village of Viyanagara. While they were sleeping... pain unleashed.

The people of the town watched the sun rise over the mountains, children playing while animal farmers feed their business food. Water is retracted from the local wells for drinking, cooking, or a light bathing. Sand blew about their feet as it does on any normal day, but it was the wind that called their attention. It was the wind that started a father out of the frontyard after his son, who's off on a dry hill with the family goat.

He reached with hands almost clawing to grab his son to bring him home. The goat took off first, sensing the danger in the air. But the boy only look up into the dark sky; where the sun once was was nothing more than a memory now, and he watched as a cloud almost ran forward toward the village. His father was too late to bring him home, but just in time to shield him as the cloud burst and became a rushing fog.

The groan barrelled through the village like an invisible damnation of demon behavior, brought to life through strong gust and sonic booms. It banged shutters and doors, like bandits breaking into houses! It slammed into homes with enough force to have it sound as if trees were falling into them! The hiss of sand and wind touching everything was very spine chilling, like a village of rattle snakes have made a home in every fillable space on the land.

Families hid, but did it do any good? The purplish black cloud sank into everything. Crops. Water. Animals. People who never made it inside their stucko homes. The wind howled through the homes like wolves on the prowl that have located their kill: under beds, kitchen cabinets, behind sofas, under tables; it knocked over pictures and vases, it searched whenever it couldn't find. It searched like a human until its purple mist found the families living inside... and then it consumed them.

Its whine and scream so loud no one heard the families beyond the initial shout. It was breeding against them, finding a home to exist in their bodies. And just as soon as the horror came... it vanished.

A man, thick in build, balding, poor, and by no means brave is crawling with his last ounce of strength over to the alert signal given to them years ago by some strange men dressed all in white that called themselves White SeeD. No one in town knew why such a thing was needed since their town is by far the smallest and weakest in existance. They weren't even really on the map until one of their own left and joined a Garden! Who knew that this anceint given gift would come in handy today.

He pulled the ripcord, and the red flag was raised by a large explosion of red shooting into the air and exploding into a huge cloud of red dust.

8 8 8

Its 11:26 a.m. and the gang are on their way to Rinaul Coast for some summer time fun. They didn't think for a second it wouldn't be crowded, but as Selphie suggested, just enjoy whatever knocks into you! Let's go!

It was just a good thing that everywhere in Balamb is walking distance, even outside of it since its located on a smallish island of Alcauld- well, you do have a good few miles to go if you're going to Garden or the fire cavern, but if you've got fourty minutes, its still within walking distance. Either way, if they'd of had to drive they would have nowhere to park because blankets can be seen even on the grass, for a good minute back from the actual beach. Which is where they planned to set up their cooler and things.

"There's a good spot!" Selphie points before taking off.

Following, though not as quickly, the small group head over to the location to set up a small grill and a blanket, some chairs, and their coolers of cookable items abd preparation items. Sandwiches and chips were placed into a separate basket.

Selphie and Zell hurried with blowing up the various floatation items, including the large water trampoline. Rinoa began making sandwiches of turkey and ham with lettuce and tomato, a few with cheese. Irvine set up the blanket, chair- because its a sort of beach sofa, and umbrella. While Seifer set up the grill and vegetables that would be paired off with chunks of marinated meat for kabobs. Squall took everything out for them to use, and after about 10 minutes they were out on the sand for some body volleyball.

The lime green ball flew over the line drawn in the sand after receiving a mighty kick from Selphie, but Squall returned the hit by using his head to butt it back over. Zell caught the ball to the chest, heaving it well enough so that the ball flies into the air where its then kicked over the line by Irvine for a score.

"Yeah!" The two bump chests on their awesome team work. Offering one to their other teammate Rinoa.

"Hyne." Groaned Seifer wiping sweat with the back of his hand. "Leave it to me to be stuck on Leonheart's team to have to lose." Seifer only uses their conjoined lastname, Kinheart, when speaking about, or to, both of them.

"Haha haa!" Zell laughed, and slapped his lover on the ass as he runs a victory lap around the designated court.

"If anyone stinks at this its the reserved Miss Quistis Trepe." Irvine comments getting a laugh from his friends, who all recalled how Quistis caught a ball to the face and had to spend the rest of the summer with a broken nose. She was a good sport about it though.

They played basketball with inflated hoops drifting on the water at two points. Too much sluggish movement bored them of the game quickly, and Rinoa thought up a new game where they had to jump from the trampoline and make a basket by throwing the ball when up in the air. It was ridiculously fun! Especially when going for bonus points by adding tricks while in the air, before they shot for the basket.

From there, they bounced on the floating trampoline doing dives and having fun launching each other by having someone sit on the edge of the thing while the others leap into the air to send them flying. They snorkled for a bit, until the smell of food and the rapid movements brought a few Fastitocalon.

"Woo!" Called one of Seifer's former cadets, now that he's made SeeD. "Let's show these things how our team gets down!"

Seifer groaned but with a sense of pride, saying. "All the cadets in the Garden, I get the douchy fanboys."

"Sounds about right." Comments Zell, receiving a smack to the back of the head, by the cadet's instructor.

Surrounding the hungry, dumb monsters, the band of seven take action with some quick spells cast from the 3 Fastitocalons' line-up of Lightning, Sleep, and Water.

"Selphie, Irvine cast Sleep!" Seifer commands. "Rinoa and Princess, get it out of the ground with Water. Zell and Burn," A nickname, since the boy is into pyromagics as well. "you cast Thunder when its up in the air."

Squall glared and crossed his arms in annoyance over the use of that insulting comment of Ice Princess, and he wondered who'd placed Seifer in charge anyway? But he cast Water all the same, when the larger than normal Fastitocalon came up from the ground wriggling and hissing. Irvine and Selphie continued casting Sleep on the fully awake charging mutant fish.

Watching the monsters meet their end, Zell- still battle hyped- bounces beside them. "What can I do now?" He asks the self appointed commander.

"Go light the grill, we're done here." Replied the taller blond, watching proudly as the fish one by one explode in a clap of dust from being electrocuted while incased in water.

The civil patrons on the beach applaud and cheer having seen, upclose, something they never would normally.

Bouncing up and down, arms pumping up and down into the air, Selphie shouts. "Woo! Even in our bathing suits, Balamb Garden kicks butt!"

"I'll bet you couldn't do that naked." Burn says to the girl with a wolfish grin, and a hand through his black and red tip dyed hair.

Giggling, Selphie says very happily. "Its a shame when youth has to be buried before they ever really got to know life." Sticking her tongue out, she walks over to where Zell is hovering over the tiny grill.

"Which ones are hot?" Opening a bag, she sees for herself by smelling for heat. Irvine is a fiend for overheating the recipe. "Ooh, this one." Crinckling her nose up, she sets the bag down to grab a pair of gloves from a box marked Kitchen Buddies. Slipping them on, she then grabs one cube from the bag of hot and spicy jerk to scewer before reaching into the steak bag to build her kabob.

"Those vegetables are good too," Irvine says having joined them a moment later. "put some green on there."

"Yes, dad." Grabbing a yellow pepper, she then pokes a button mushroom through its stump then continues with her all meat stick.

Smiling at Squall's broccoli stick accented with bites of steak, Irvine wraps his arms around his torso and sits himself around him from behind, his knees are raised up at his lover's sides.

Figuring Irvine is content koala'd around him, Squall glances over his shoulder asking. "What do you want?"

"Shrimp, other than that I don't care." He nuzzles his face into the soon to be missing six inches of hair. Squall said once Kait left, he'd be chopping it off and going back to his usual style. He's gonna enjoy it while he can.

Seifer's blowing on his cooked food stick before pulling off a bite of chicken along with a green pepper and onion; scooting out of the way of his former cadet reaching over him to have a meal himself, he glares at the twenty year old, wondering when they invited him to stay? Like he'd said fanboys. Not to mention Burn likes watching Selphie bend over to work on her cooking food. Popping the male on the head, he threatens a backhand if he tries peeking again.

"Why did we forget the radio?" Selphie wonders while digging in the bag that held their phones and towels.

"With all the other radios going, are you kidding?" Zell comments through a mouthful of chips.

"Shit. Rinoa, Quist' called. She wants us for a mission." Selphie sits her phone back into the bag.

Burn practically cried like a baby. "Aaaww, you're leaving?"

"Yup. And she called a little while ago. Come on." Waving as she grabs anything that's personally hers, she called out. "Bye guys."

"Bye." Rinoa chimed in.

"Later."

Is the simpliest version of the gaggled reply. Men are eating. That's all they know. Especially when a tupperware of original and sour cream Pringles chips, and buffalo wings are placed in the center of the foodening like an offering from the Gods screaming "Please spare the women and children the sight of your snacking!"

"What's the message say?" Rinoa asks in a huff, the two are running to their current residences of the boys' houses.

"Some place got attacked and White SeeD is out their helping, but White SeeD got attacked by a swarm of monsters when they tried to help the sick townspeople." Stopping just outside of town where she'll be separating from Rinoa since the Kinheart home is outside of town. "We have to help them since there aren't that many of them on the battle front. And Trabia is just a medical tactics Garden now, but they're still on their way over to help with the sick."

"Oh."

"We have to hurry back to Timber, though. Quistis wasn't sure if we'd left yet, so the pick up guys are going to the beach over there."

"Right!"

"Train station in three minutes or less."

They separate and get changed. The train was thankfully just on its way out. They just hoped they were in time to help before anymore people were injured or lost.

8 8 8

"What are you guys doing here?" Asks Kait when spotting his friends leaving the train. "I thought you were staying for the week?"

"Change of plans, we have a mission- and what are _you_ still doing here?" Selphie asks as they hurry through town, followed by the battle eager teen. He perked up awfully quick when hearing the M-word.

"I was just about to walk to Galbadia- but I wanna help you guys." He runs on ahead. "What are we doing?"

"Oohh, no, Kait." Selphie shakes her head. "Your father would kill us, you're supposed to be at school."

"But I'm Garden, my job is to be useful to people in need. I won't get in the way."

The three are moving across the land outside of town now. He can see jet skis waiting on the beach in the distance.

"Pleeease?" He begged.

"We could use the help, Sel'. We don't know what we're getting into."

"Okay. ...But don't let yourself get too hurt. There are sick people and monsters everywhere. You help the sick, and we'll fight."

"Got it." He gave her a thumbs up.

"He's coming too?" A bearded man asks when spotting the teen.

"Yeah. He can ride with me." Selphie climbs on the ski, taking off across the water when Kait is securely seated with his arms around her waist.

Rinoa on ahead, they drive the skiis right into a vessle-docking submarine awaiting their arrival.

...

It took an hour and fourty five minutes to get to the Kashkabald desert from Timber. During that time they were briefed once seated in the sub, and reporting how much longer it would take for Trabia Garden to arrive.

"Do you guys have healing magic?" The pick-up asked.

"I do."

"I only have a couple." Replied Selphie.

"I can give you some!" The teen piped up. "I've got a few dozen on me."

The girls offer him a wry smile. Leave it to a cadet to be chauk full of and currently sporting spells. But in this case the boys eagerness came in handy. She's hesitant to take it though, knowing how much trouble he has with casting and drawing to the point that it caused him pain when he'd first started out.

But, hesitant as she was, she drew at least twenty casts from the boy. He seemed fine, a little winded by it, but fine. "Pop quiz." She said when seeing his approaching nervousness when the sub-captain called the arrival. "Why don't we use Esuna on civies?"

They're putting on fumigation masks, hooking the little loops behind their ears. And suiting up in protective jumpsuits since they don't know if the outbreak is contagious or not.

"Because their bodies can't handle the make-up changes, if its not trained for it." He thought for a moment. "But if we must, we remove the spell immidiately after its healed the problem."

"Bingo!" She claps.

"Aaand?" Rinoa adds.

"And?" Kait twist his mouth back and forth in thought. "And, and, and- oh! And use Scan to see what the problem is, to solve it with potions instead of just using magic!"

Grinning, she reaches for a, returned, high-five.

The sand stopped the submarine opening its doors promptly after. Hopping onto waiting Chocobos, they ride swiftly through the desert to the village.

"The beasts emerged from the dunes and the mountains. They were relentless, almost as if controlled to attack. Monsters aren't usually this forceful, even when they do attack." The White SeeD commander informs in a shout over the noise of wind- normal wind- blowing around them.

"Fuck." Kait muttered looking around at the carnage.

The difference was exactly night and day when they reached the village. The sand is an odd red color in some spots, purple in the others; the sky looks like its been eclipsed, though its daylight. You can't tell which tents are the medicail ones because the sand has dyed them just as tan and golden brown as the stucco homes. The only real decipher is that it bleeding people looking for help. The people are what- Kait so colorfully referred to when he swore- 'Fucked'. It was lepers, plague, and flu all at the same time! Their skin is pocked with rash and bleeding scabs, some of them- he notes as they move in to help- are missing their eyes! Others are lerched over and throwing up into the sand. Others running and screaming that they're blind or deaf. This is real! Not simulated... real.

Shaking his panic off, Kait runs after the screamer. "Sir!" He uses scan to check the guy over. "Wait!"

The girls looked after him only a moment before heading farther into the village. Potions from med-kits are administered, and comfort to the panicked villages said. Things were going smoothly, there was a lot of blood shed when the monsters attacked, and some will quickly need the help of Trabia which still has twenty minutes before it arrive. The injuries are bad enough to need surgery! Missing limbs, chunks missing from their bodies but not the whole limb.

"It's gonna be okay, ma'am." Selphie says.

"But I can't see!" She cried.

"Ssshh." Selphie soothed. Her eyes flash over glowing green, as Scan runs over the sobbing woman. "Its okay." Selphie says again. "Drink this, it'll help you."

Taking big gulps from the bottle of remedy, the woman blinks rapidly, watching as the darkness began to blur into shapes and colors. "Its working!" She cried out, wrapping her arms around the woman who'd helped her.

"You're welcome." She says to the eruption of 'thank yous'. "Put this on, please. It helps us know who's been helped." She hands the woman a white wristband.

The White SeeDs idea when all the Gardens briefed when Trabia was first made into a medical facility. Galbadia is all physical and training, offense and defense. Balamb is educational mixed with battle and medical. So its the sort of Leader of Gardens. If the Soceress wars taught them anything, its that fighting amongst themselves is needless and pointless when they can all work together to be one powerful unite functioning in three locations: North, Belt, and South.

"Here they come!" The SeeD commander shouts.

Chaos erupts like mad then after! Rinoa and Selphie hurry into action along side four other men who are ready for battle. Spells are cast but quickly ceased!

"Don't use fire or thunder!" Rinoa shouts when spotting the Oilboyles slithering over the dunes into town.

"That's what that weird smell was." Selphie voices her thoughts. "The whole town is covered in it, one wrong spell and the place is gonna go up like an explosion!"

"I'm guessing that's what the Geezards are for." Rinoa adds.

Good thing they spent the morning at the beach. The two girls are casting Water, while the three men and the woman are shooting out Aero spells and Blizzard. Kait watched in amazement at the pros going to work on them all. But the swarm was overwhelming, and some Geezards made it into town!

"Shit!"

Resting the child in his arms against a wooden fence post, he hurries over to the human-faced scorpion and stabs it in the head with the blade of his Kataras, lifting into a handstand he spins to drill the point home. Dropping into a kneel beside its corpse, he shakes his blades off from the blood and brain matter stuck to them.

"Gross." He mutters to himself. Spotting three more, he goes after them.

"Rin'!" Selphie called out.

"I'm on it!"

Five tiny almost parrot-sized boomerang blades on a wire, launch from her wristwear holster, and stab and slice and pull at an Oilboyle in the distance. Grunting, she tugs her arm back and the boomerangs return to their holster _Crossfader_ like a yo-yo. The beast writhes and flails, elevating its tender underside which is exposed and ripe for Selphie's attack.

The mace at the end of her _Thorn_, a three prong nunchuck that can lock into a double-sided mace-bo, launches the end mace out toward the monster like a missle honed to its heat, and from there it bashes into the thing's stomach. With a battle grunt from hurling the weight over her shoulder in the opposite direction, the spiked ball scrapes its way up the monster's torse tearing chunks out as it retracts back to its stick via the chain pulling it in.

The Oilboyle dropped dead, bleeding out all over the sullied sand, which only seemed to cause it more pain due to its open wound. Giving it a twist so it drops into nunchuck mode, Selphie whailes on a Geezard trying to brush by her with stabs and bashes, showing off her expert skill with the three prong.

Casting Aero as he whirls like a spinning top on an angel, Kait uses his Hurricane to slice the head off a Geezard coming after a young woman. Giving the body a good kick away from its head, he looks around for more straying enemies. Where are they all coming from? He scans the field, and there! Up on the cliffside is what appears to be one of those bald worshippers- he's seen them before when gathering information about the Espers.

"Selphie!" Kait shouts over the battle noise. "Up there!" He points a blade in the direction of the bystander, who's nowhere near innocent.

Rinoa got to it first, and launching her flail-style boomerang at him, she swears when it doesn't even come to close to reaching him. The man seemed too focused on whatever he's doing to notice the attacks coming his way, but it wasn't much of a threat because they aren't reaching.

Kait could have shot him easily, but he can't with all the oil everywhere just waiting for one wrong spark to light it up. So its him, Rinoa, and a White SeeD member running towards the cliff actions blazing.

"Hhhrrraaaa!" The White SeeD cried out when they reached the worshipper, close enough for their attacks to hit. Casting Blizzaga, they shield theirselves from the biting coldsnap of the magic surrounding the moisture in the air.

"Halllllaaaak!" The worshipper cried out.

A large white gem at the end of his staff glows and within seconds a rush of purple fog encases the village before he's covered in ice.

"Selphie watch it!" Rinoa shouts back down into the canyon.

Unsure of what the hell was coming at her, as she's never seen magicks like that, Selphie puts up a Wall between the smoke and herself. The Wall protected her, but the others weren't so fortunate, and all the healing they'd done only went back in reverse when the purple fog brushed through the village for a second time.

Selphie listened to their frightened and defening screams, and she knew she had to act quickly. Coiling her nunchuckle around in a wind, she raises it over her head opening the Slot spell they hold. It was a stretch that it'd work, but she cast Esuna on every body it could reach! She expended a lot of energy doing it, but she didn't release the technique until every single villager was about to withstand the poison.

"Hhhh! Hhhh!" She pants on her knees, nunchuckle still in the air over her head.

The large statue of ice shattered after Rinoa was through raking her flailing boomerangs through the ice and the worshipper's frozen body. He desolved, blowing away in the wind like he were made of sand himself. The staff remained however, but when Rinoa picked it up and asked.

"What's this?"

The rune on top shattered and turned into dust as well, causing the three to gasp. And with the shattering of the white gem, the monsters just seemed to dumb-up, and wander away from the village.

"Selphie!" Kait wraps his arms around her trembling body; after nearly killing himself stumbling down the cliffside. "Are you ok?"

She nods, but her senses seem a little fried. "I've just never used my Slot magic on a crowd bigger than three people, it kinda knocked the wind out of me." Something tickled her ear, and pulling it off its identified as the bands from her fumigation mask. It had burned off her face from the poison and she didn't even notice! Even with the wall to protect her body the air was that thick with miasma it almost got to her anyway.

The stampeding feet sound from all around them... Trabia Garden has arrived.

...

Author's Note: This chapter was so phew! ahaha seriously, this was Take-8 kind of Chapter 2. I typed and erased and typed and erased and just when I was about to go harumph and just wait on it, I returned to innocence and listened to some Timber theme and whammo! Chapter!

And chapter 3 will be in... a few weeks from now. Hopefully it won't be so tough to start or finish. And sorry if you don't like random sex, I wanted to cut back on that with this story since its mostly action related but if you don't mind readers than yay. Thanks for reading. And forgive my grammer and mistakes I've missed, I'm really trying.


	3. Suspicious Patterns

Rinoa squeezed her eyes shut as large scrubbing sponges are run up and down her naked body by the Sanitations workers. This was necessary, yes, but humiliating all the same. Especially when strangers aren't that far away receiving the same treatment. They're in two at a time with a 16 person populous. The dead have been washed in a separate tent, dressed, and set into body bags for funerals. To leave them here would be disrespectful to the dead, and the families.

White SeeD called in a special unit to clean the area of its pollution, and the oil spills. Its a job that will take maybe months to get completely done before the place is inhabitable once more. The animals have died, the vegetation- as little as it was for a desert town- all gone from the devistating power of the poison. Neither land or water SeeD has ever seen anything like this.

Kait, who'd been squeezing his hair out, moved forward a step when a punch landed his shoulderblade. Looking over his shoulder he sees Selphie smiling at him. "Oh, hey, Sel'. How're things going? Will everyone be all right?" He asked with the officiancy of the job well done, rather than concern. So Squall.

"We won't know if the poisons been completely removed until we get them into an infirmary for a better check up than Scan." Looking over her shoulder to where a robed Rinoa exits the sanitation tent, she turns with back the teen. "Here. Its my phone. I want you to call Galbadia and tell them you're on your way." Handing the dalmation spotted device over, she stuffs her hands into the pockets on the robe.

"But the trai-..."

"I asked the sub guys to take you." She smiled knowingly. "So," Hugging the boy, Selphie removes herself. "go to school, and see Mara. We can take it from here."

"Okay."

"And Kait," She waits for him to give her his attention before she waves her arms over her head, bouncing up and down to call out "Good job!" like she's 15 feet away instead of 5.

Snickering, he pats her on the shoulder. "Thank you."

"I'll tell your Dads that you killed it when I call."

Nodding, he waves goodbye to her and Rinoa, who'd been drying her hair over by the sanitation tents a moment ago but has currently approached their conversation.

"We're not going with him?"

"No." Selphie replied.

She then stripped off her robe, causing Rinoa to playfully scream as though she was expecting the girl to be naked underneath. The two laugh hysterically about it.

"We've been offered a ride back to Balamb with those guys." Pointing to another submarine that's showed up with the cleaning crew. Shrugging her hand out, she adds. "The captain told me they'd be here a while anyway, so it'd be alright if we hitched a ride."

"Oh."

"We're going in an hour, we have to file a report to Quistis about our progress first."

Selphie took a look around the devestation and heaved a great sigh. Walking to where her old stomping grounds, Trabia Garden, resides; Rinoa can't help but look after her friend in admired amazement of how much she's grown up, while not having changed much at all by remaining so youthful and carefree. It seems all of her friends are that way, ever since she's heard about their past from Irvine.

Its like they're all living Time Capsules of an era where age means nothing, and will continue to mean nothing so long as they live. Cocking her head, she thought about her own life, and wondered if being friends with them has affected her timelessness. Will she never see a morning where she wakes up and wants to crawl back into bed with aching limbs, and just sleep until lunch? Will she ever get wrinkles and call them laugh-lines?

She was sure she could never jump on the maturity train of marriage as Squall and Irvine have; she's never met anyone she's been interested in for longer than a season, and even if she did... Marriage. Uh-uh. Its too big of a step. And then there's Zell and Seifer, they've been living together for ages. Also very mature. She's living with Selphie, but that's different. She isn't in love with Selphie, so there's no fear of strong commitments down the line.

Other than personal interest that are more mature than something a teen or young adult would be interested in; and finer features due to age, they've all pretty much remained active, youthful individuals. Playing _T_riple _T_riad, and ordering pizzas for movie nights while arguing over the movie or pizza toppings, or like today playing at the beach. Even Laguna Loire, peppered hair, bad leg and all!

Rubbing her wrist, she walks towards the towering medical Garden. If these little skirmishes don't cease popping up, they'll both stay in shape _and_ put unwanted wear and tear on their yearly aging bodies, whether their spirit feels it or not.

"Selphie!" She called out before dashing ahead to be by her friend's side.

...

This was new to all of them, the desert village is not used to this sort of arrangement of metal and steal, paint and wires. They're more used to stucco and fabric, sand and dry dirt. Their watery eyes darted everywhere and nowhere at the same time, taking in their strange surroundings.

Everything is weird and foreign to them, even the horizontal pewter and yellow divider lines on the wall. And the large florescent lighting overhead instead of using Hyne's given light. As they're led to the infirmary they're looking at all the name tags over the doors: Poison control, Amputees, Flesh Wounds/Stitching, O.R. 1-4, Autopsy/Morgue, Research/Biopsy. The one that came up the most was hanging over several passed doors in the center of the building: Cafeteria. Some of the villagers murmur over the size of the building, wondering if all Gardens were like this?

A short woman with shoulder length copper colored hair, opens the door for them to the R&B room. "Right this way. We just need to do a thorough check up on you to be sure that nothing is wrong."

The small herd crowd into the large examination room, being asked to take seats on the long padded tables with curtains hanging overhead for privacy. After a while of getting over the culture shock, the question had to be asked.

"What's going to happen to us?" Came the tiny voice of a woman, when she spoke to a person who seemed to hold the most authority in the room.

Penny Myers, who'd brought them into the room, smiled kindly at the woman seated beside her. She's been bandaging as many people as she could, who've broken out in nasty blisters from the poisoning. The villagers are still in pretty bad shape due to their injuries being scrubbed by sanitation, and from sand having blown into cuts and boils. It's a lot of nasty business. She'd planned to ask her best friend, Selphie, what the heck is going on whenever that woman gets done giving her report to Balamb Garden.

"Ma'am, until the site is clear of all contaminates you'll be staying at Trabia Garden. Unless you have relatives somewhere else, then we can drop you off there. But we have plenty of room, and lots of food and drink." Penny looks around as if the medical ward were every area she were mentioning. "We even have a gaming center for the kids to relax- if they don't mind teenaged company."

That only seemed to sadden the woman once again. She'll be burying her only daughter once this disaster is over- if its ever over! Viyanagara is the only place she's ever known. How will she start a new life in a foreign place? Her husband is unconcious, and may not even ever wake up. What will she do without her family? She may as well have been taken by the storm as well! Not even meaning to, she places her face into her hands then cries.

"Ohhh." Penny wraps her arms sympathetically around the woman, allowing her to cry on her shoulder.

An elderly man has been prophesizing over signs of the apocolypse since he's shown up. Honestly, Penny wishes he'd zip it, because he's freaking everyone else out. A few people have gotten together to have a prayer, asking Hyne for help. She's not so sure it's related to the Gods at all. Something about these blisters seem a bit off. But they won't know until the lab reports come in.

In the main office of the building, Selphie and Rinoa are talking to Quistis via the television. It's almost ingenius because its not tv. Not in the sense that it was had back in the day. These televisions are all really just computers picking up telecommunications from waves broadcasting all over the world thanks to Dollet, Timber, and the Satelite ruins in Centra. The people of Fisherman's Horizon designed the screens, and Esthar created the technology behind the tower's uses. You can do everything with these: television, DVD chips, phone use! You simply turn on the phone function and type the number with a holographic keyboard and the world is yours!

"We've evaquated the people, and BIO Hazard sanitasionist are cleaning up the chemicals... Its gonna be pretty tough considering they're dealing with sand." She blinks, putting a finger to her chin in thought, she wonders out loud with a cock of her head. "Or would it be easier _because_ its sand?"

"Relax those gears up there." Rinoa Mother's.

"I wonder why the monsters would show up like that?" Quistis wonders.

Giving a shrug, Selphie replies. "Maybe the Geezards and 'Boyles smelled the death breath and thought they could get any easy meal." Releazing her insensativity to the subject she adds quickly. "I mean, you know how sensative an animal- even a monster's senses are. Sick breath could smell like the end to them." She laughs dryly.

"That is true. They come around for the carcasses of Thrustaevis all the time."

"But wait," Selphie turns to Rinoa. "you said there was a Worshipper up on the hill, that he was controlling the monsters with some sort of gem?"

That perked Quistis's interest. Its one thing for monsters to randomly attack a place, and an entirely different story if they were commanded to. "Really?"

"Yeah, there was oil spilled everywhere to prevent us from using certain magics, maybe, but mostly it was so the Geezards could use their Fire attacks to torch the village. At the top of the hill there was a Worshipper watching it all, he sent another poison cloud down on them with a rune staff. I don't know if he was controlling the monsters or not." Confessed the girl close enough.

"He must have been! When he died, they seemed confused and just wandered away- the ones we hadn't killed anyhow."

"But that's not their usual M.O." Quistis looks thoughtful. "I wonder what's gotten into them that they're controlling monsters now?"

"Maybe they've given up on Sorceresses and they're trying their own thing." Selphie throws out there.

"Monsters aren't exactly beneficial to whatever their goals are." Quistis adds to that thought. "We've beaten monsters before, thousands of times. Were they souped up?"

"No. Not even a little bit- I mean, their teamwork was amazing, but other than that they were average." Replied the nunchucklist.

"I see."

They're all quiet a moment, unsure of anything more on the subject.

"Quis', if that's all then we're going back to Balamb Town. The White SeeD said they'd keep us posted, but can you do the same? Sometimes they don't know everything that's going on."

"I can for a little while. The situation seems under control for the time being, White SeeD is on site, as well as Sanitation. The townspeople are in Trabia getting cared for." Her check list seemed done. "We can monitor the progress of the cleaning crew for a while, but with testing about to start next week, Garden's going to the I.C.H."

She folds her arms thoughtfully over her chest; her thin silver frame glasses seemed to heighten her professional look- to strangers anyway- to Selphie and Rinoa she just looks like Quistis before she goes into all-range work mode. The two almost had to laugh about it when the woman sighed out her frustrations, but they kept it in and smiled instead.

"Let them know that we'll stay on the ready to help defend them, if they need it." She then instructs. "I can't gaurantee a speedy arrival, but we will drop everything to protect them."

Snapping into Balamb Garden's salute, Selphie says. "Yes, boss."

Smiling, Quistis shakes her head. "Good job you guys." Leaning forward she ends the call.

Turning to her equally dampened haired friend, Selphie cheers. "Back to the beach to parteee!"

Groaning, Rinoa could only offer a weary laugh at the prospect of ever getting wet again after the scrub down and shower they've taken not sixteen minutes ago. And they'll have to take a submarine to get back to Balamb. That's a longer trip than when they left from Timber.

"You know what, Sel', I think I'm all beached out." Rinoa states very light-heartedly. "I'll stay here with Trabia, for just incase."

"Really?" She seemed genuinely down about that. "Well, I'll see you at the end of the week..." After a thought she adds. "Hopefully." Crossing her fingers, she exits the room.

Seeing as their conversation has ended, Rinoa walks out of the room after the girl proceeding quietly down the corridoor to the dorms. She's trained in field med. but right now, she'd just like to have the job of consoling people in need.

8 8 8

"Aaaaw rats, rats, rats." Kait muttered to himself.

Sloshing through ankle deep ocean water once the submarine dropped him off on Lapin Beach in Dollet, was not something he'd wanted to do after the unscheduled shower two hours ago on the outskirts of Kashkabald. He was at least happy he'd remembered to remove his boots and socks then stuff them under his arms before exiting. Falling hard onto his butt on the sand- the only fun at the beach he's gonna have this week- the teen slips into his socks then boots once the water threat is no longer a problem.

"_Cura_." He cast.

A pale blue and white light surrounds him, pink slivers come shooting up through the light as well then the spell takes effect. He rolls up the left sleeve on his RUDE jacket to watch the little pock marks disappear.

Standing up, he scratches his itchy back in thought. Felt like bug bit him actually. Its weird that the scabs healed when he used a cure rather than Esuna or the Remedy. Must be from combined spells of healing and effects and potion.

Heading into town, he stuffs a hand down into the back pocket of his jeans finding his Cred-Card; he eyes the surrounding area for an ATM. Snapping his fingers he recalls that there's one inside the bar Seifer likes to visit when they come to Dollet. His Dads like the place too, but for the sake of a few card games, playing cards or _T_raid monster cards it never mattered which. He and Zell usually hit the gym, or hang out over at Quistis' place.

Dashing through town, he watched the people through the blur they've become while he runs past them at top speed. Having bounded up the stairs from the beach 2 at a time, he got a longer look at the movements of decoration hanging. It looks like the town is getting ready for a party or something. Or maybe a parade, what with how many stray flowers are hanging out in random locations on the streets. Man, school makes him miss everything interesting. Although, if given the option of one or the other, he'd never give up going to Garden. He wants to become SeeD so bad, he can almost say nothing else sometimes: What do you want for breakfast, Kait? I'd like SeeD. Wanna go make-out? SeeD! You know, stuff like that.

Pulling open the door to the bar, he looks over the smarmy group of toasted patrons who curiously look back. Despite his improved height of 5'4" the 16 year old doesn't look a day over 13 half the time, even though he's ripped underneath. Or he'd like to think so. Zell likes to kid him that its torso acne abs and mosquito bites for a chest, but he knows its a kid. Waving a hand, to show he means no harm, Kait moves to the ATM.

Pressing his password in he then types the amount needed to be withdrawn; double checking the glowing numbers in the small glass covered slot. He then swipes his card through. The screen flashes: Withdrawl Successful. Before pushing out a receipt. Removing the slip of paper, he stuffs it into his wallet along with his card.

"Hey handsome," Came a sultry, deep voice from behind him; as well as a very buff pair of arms wrapping around his shoulders. "care to buy a lady a drink?"

Looking over his shoulder, he says very casually. "But you're a guy?"

"Only by Hyne's design." He whispered in a tone he hoped came out a bit softer and more feminine.

"Tisk, too bad. I really prefer the fellas." Kait tisks again. "Darn." Shaking his head, the teen's removing himself. "I gotta get to school. Maybe next time!"

He darts for the door, leaving his tranny friend in a hip-holding state of a huff. Never visit bars at night.

_'Night! Shit!'_ He has to hurry, its six o'clock!

The Chocoboy ran so fast he was sure he'd passout before he made it to Galbadia Garden, but he didn't have to walk for much longer having located the Car Rental by the docks. He asked for the first one in the lot, and sped off after paying the man for it. It cost a lot less than he withdrew, which was a plus, because someone has to pick the bike up for return once he gets there and that cost some gil.

Kait almost thought about going to Galbadia right off the bat, but knew he had to stop by Mara's first. She'd have a fit otherwise, and he'd never hear the end of it because Galbadia leaves tomorrow morning around ten. So much for having some free time to just hang out there. He's just glad that the bike is quiet. Riding through the field was a smooth trip, and when he hit the forest intersection he only distrubed one monster from its sleep- and that was because he'd run its tail feathers over.

The plucky, mutant rooster fluttered heavily into the air and landed on his back, its claws dig in so hard he'd almost wiped out and hit a tree! He thought about using some attack magic, but he didn't want the spell to backfire and frag the bike. So instead he swatted at the thing, elbowing it in the gut to distract its peck while he reached into his duffle for his Lioger-Canon. Grabbing one, he took aim and fired!

The bird screeched. Falling crumpled to the ground, it writhed and bobbed on the ground. Its wings have dislocated in the twisting fall, and in a sad effort it tried to move them before it died away.

Grinning at a job well done, he cheered himself with a "Woo hoo!" and bounced the front wheel of the bike into the air giving it a dizzying spin on the back wheel while popping off a couple of celebratory rounds into the sky, before lowering the bike to its appropriate level of use.

"Flashy..." He compliments the victory dance. "But where am I gonna get a bike every time?" Disappointed, he shakes his head then speeds off out of the forest.

Rodenite is semi-active in the evening. Farmers feeding their animals, workers closing or opening stores. Women or Men pulling from their garden's crops to get orders ready for market selling. Even in the heat, the air is fresh and pleasant with the scent of vegetation.

"Nothing wrong with a little detour." He says to himself.

Darting off past the grocery store he hops a wooden fence, made of many long beams in a parallel of two. Hurrying to the back door of Terry Kinneas's home, he knocks then peers through the glass with a big grin on his face; spotting the couple at the kitchen table having dinner, he allows himself in when the tall elderly man stands from his seat.

"Grampa!" Meeting the man's grappling hug on equal terms, he opens an arm when Celes Kinneas stands as well and he pulls her into a happy little threesome.

"Has it been six months already?" Terry asked, letting go of his hold he looks the boy over. "You look good, sonny! Lean, not skinny- that the Kinneas gene is you." He laughs wispily. "How's your Poppas?"

"Poppin'." He replied with a laugh. "And by now, I'm guessing that they're enjoying child-free marital bliss."

The elderly couple shared a secret smile, remembering their own enjoyment when Irvine joined Galbadia Garden.

Looking past the two to the dinner table, Kait asks. "What're you having?"

"Collards, and _baked_ chicken." He gave his wife the eye before adding. "Yer Gramma says I need to watch my cholesterol." Hand running over his chest, he snickers. "Don't much think its cause I've gotta watch my weight."

Terry laughed away, while his wife wound her finger around her ear about him. The entire Kinneas family is pencil thin, even though Irvine's adopted; the skinny gene must just run in the regions population. Timber girls and guys tend to be on the lightweight side as well.

"Would you like a plate?" Gramma Celes asks.

Her pale grey wig is done up in a bun for bedtime which would follow shortly after couch time once dinner is over. His Grandfather wasn't as fortunate as Grampa Laguna, he's got the basic horse shoe pattern, and even the horse shoe is very thinned out. Its to be expected when you're 78, the teen supposed. Terry is still very tall, though. Gramma shrank a bit, so now their height is less even and they mimic Zell and Seifer's height difference.

Kait could see the farming couple's cozy existance of enjoyed coffee or tea on the porch out front. She'll have a few games of bridge with girl friends, and he'd spend days re-telling stories around a game show on the tv for his guy friends. They'd have playful arguements before bed, then they'll take out their teeth and kiss each other goodnight. He wondered if his Father's will make it this far? He and Leo might not. Times are different, commitments aren't as strong in the younger sets. They want life fast, all of it, and that's not gonna happen if something remains constant- not even parents! Kids are leaving home just to see if they can; its almost getting sick.

"I can't." Though he pinches a fingerful of collard greens to eat. "I just wanted to stop in and say 'hi', I have to go to Mara's."

Nodding, the elderly woman reaches out a spotted hand and clamps it around the teen's wrist. "You be good. And thanks for visiting." Pulling him down she gives him a big kiss on the cheek, which he returned. "Bye. Bye Grampa."

"Later!" He says cheerfully, in a tone that spoke of his whimsickle soul underneath his aged exterior.

He waved one last time, then headed out. Mara's house is only three houses down after cutting between houses and crossing streets. Kait didn't want to dawdle anymore, and hurried into the house once the door is opened.

"I know I'm late, but something came up." He explains when seeing the exhausted, let down look on his Mother's face. "A village got attacked and they called in for help. I couldn't ignore it; but, I got a ride over." He added a playful laugh to ease the tension of Mara's exasperated expression.

"Oh Miles, I'm not mad if you were called away on duty." She takes a seat, patting the chair beside her so that her son can sit down.

Taking a seat, he grimaces when his hands are scooped up into hers. "Mom," He starts to object but he's cut off.

"I just hope you don't end up in the.." She releases his hands so that she can cough into her fist. When the fit was over, she pats her chest then continues. "hospital." Coughing again, she excuses herself to the kitchen.

He listens to her getting a cup of water, and when she returns it's with two glasses.

"Are you feeling all right?" He asks. Taking the glass, he gives its contents a sip finding out that the clear black glass held tea inside.

"I felt fine until just now." She clears her throat, which feels scratchy all of a sudden. "Must be a bug going around." Taking down some water, she sets the cup onto the coffee table.

"You need to take it easy out here. Its dry season you know?" His hand goes up to rest on her forehead. "Congestion and everything."

Mara touched the boy's cheek and laughed at the concern. "Have you eaten?" Standing, she doesn't walk away. "I've got a lovely salmon with cold soup waiting for you if you'd like- and a salad. I know you're into fitness right now."

_'What does healthy food have to do with fitness?'_ He wondered.

His stomach growled as if to say "Bitch, don't pass this up! Food!"

A dry laugh escapes him, and he scratches the back of his head. "I'll eat."

"Wonderful!" Mara moves toward the kitchen. "Be just a second. Get your bags unpacked."

"I'm only gonna be here overnight. We're testing and Garden is moving to another island." He gets up from the couch; walking about the living room, he studies the photos around the quaint, and homey room. Its got white flower print furniture, a wicker based coffee table with a glass top, and thin throw rugs placed beneath the coffee table and windowseat.

He's seen his Mother's friends before, the man Robert who'd helped her when she went away to get better. Paula Graham, she works in the same store as Mara. There were aging photos of she and him whenever he'd come to visit. He rode a Chocobo alone for the first time here with her- granted it was a teenaged Checobo- but the height made riding it easier. He has his own bird in Winhill, named A.M.I because she was the runt of the liter and her survival was A Miracle in Itself, and she's a green land bird. Imari's Chocobo, Shu, had children with one of the crossbreed male birds that live in the stable of the home of an elderly woman that was watching the bird for him. Mrs. Manaji's daughter, Brenda, offered up the babies to them, and Kait took the land and mountain runner. Squall and Irvine's birds are both black all-terrain lovering males.

The other photos were from birthday parties. Everyone was around then, it was the one time both families and friends really got along. They have barbecues, and let up fireworks, or they'll all head off somewhere cold and ski and snowboard. There are pictures of him in his Galbadian uniform, and one from his Balamb uniform. He hasn't gotten to study at Trabia yet.

The smell of freshly cooked fish wafts into the air causing his mouth to water, and his stomach to grumble again. There's also a starchy smell mixed with it that could only come from rice. Heading into the kitchen, he moves the swinging door out of his way. Frowning at the sight of his Mother leaning against the counter, hand on her head, he takes a seat at the table.

"...Are you _sure_ you're feeling ok?"

"Yeah, yes... sweetie. I just had a long day at the market. And it _is_ dry season," She gestures a hand out since it was his comment she's agreeing with. "I'll take some decongestants and head to bed."

Fixing her son's plate, she's brushed aside by his grabbing the maple leaf decorated plate from her hand.

"I can do it, you go rest."

"You're sweet." She holds his cheeks between her hands, tipping his head forward she gives him a kiss on the top of his head. "I'll clean in the morning."

"Okay." Though he'd planned on doing the dishes despite her words.

Kait put his food together by placing the salmon onto the plate, beside that came beans and rice from a tupperware out of the microwave. He doesn't feel like cold soup, so it was set back into the refrigerator. He ate hungrily after having worked up an appetite fighting monsters, and traveling from point A to B to C and he got himself a second helping of rice, deciding to just finish it off. After eating a few cookies from the pantry, he cleans up the dishes and puts them into the dish washer. He wanted to stay overnight, but he also doesn't wanna over sleep then have to rush to Garden.

Borrowing some stationary, he writes Mara a quick note of his absense then exits the home. Locking the door after him, he climbs onto the motorcycle then rides to Galabadia Garden.

8 8 8 8

"That was a good trip!" Announced Selphie upon arrival at the Kinheart home.

She was really glad to see them just sitting on the couch watching television, she had a lot to tell them and it wouldn't be possible if they were asleep, or otherwise engaged.

"Job well done?" Asks the sharpshooter after being scared out of his witts by the girl's sudden presence.

He and Squall were right in the middle of a good book, and their focus was kind of gone to the rest of the planet. The Gunblade specialist closed the book after bookmarking their place.

"It was. We slaughtered that Worshipper and his monster minnions, and rescued the desert villagers."

Selphie wanders straight for the kitchen and grabs an orange. Ripping into its skin, she peels it quickly away before diving in with a big bite on her way down the hall back into the living room.

"Mmm. Quistis is gonna monitor them until exams start." Leaning against the back of the arm chair, she looks over the pair. "Can I read too?"

"No. We're in the middle, and you wouldn't be interested with it half over." Squall replied.

"I might." Coming around to the front of the chair, she sits down onto it. "You should have seen Kait, he handled the situation like a real pro!"

"That's good." Irvine replied. Enjoying the smell of orange; he opened his hand to a slice, eating it when his request was received.

Squall cocked a brow. "What was Kait doing there?"

"His train was super delayed, so he stayed over at our house yesterday. They still weren't running today, that's why he came over with Rin' and me. He saw us at the station." She shrugged. "What's up for tomorrow?" She asks.

"Beach, beach, one of them rides in the submarine." Irvine thinks. "Then we hit the gym, they've got a zoomba class going this week."

"Ahahaha! And Squall's coming too? I wouldn't miss that!" She's so tickled by the idea that she's leans back kicking her feet as she laughs.

Watching the humored display, Irvine laughed at her laugh. Squall didn't find it so funny. He can cut loose at the appropriate times. Last year he'd entered a baking competition when he'd learned how to make pie crust. He didn't win, but fifth place and participation should have shown his friends that he isn't as tight-assed as they like the believe.

"So what happened?" Squall asked, ready to calm the giggle and change subject.

"Oh, wait." Getting up from the seat, she drops to her knees before the internet.

Pressing 'Power', she waits for the screen to load, and after about 30 seconds the screen comes on waiting for command. Pressing the large 'News' button in the top right hand corner, she presses the button for the holographic keyboard. Rapidly typing on the tv stand's wooden surface, she pulls up satelite feed on the site of the incident.

Selphie and technology have always been the best of friends- once she'd gotten over her excitement of just cramming the buttons down on anything, she's a real natural. She hooked up their system because they didn't understand a word of it. She did Seifer's too. Quistis doesn't watch television- if she can help it- but Selphie installed a television in her home as well.

"There we go." Scooting off to the right, she points. "I don't think there will be any reporters out there to talk about it just yet, but that's what's going on."

The pair lean forward in their seat and watch the white suits wander around on odd colored sand. Some people are exiting houses with arms full, and just dumping personal items into a pile.

"There's poison and oil everywhere." Her lids are closed as digust expresses itself over her face, and she brushes her hands down over her torso as if wiping the residue off. "We had to get a scrub down. The rest of the town is getting treatment in Trabia while they clean the area." Resting her elbows on top of the coffee table, she places her chin against balled fist. "Rinoa stayed behind with Garden. We're still not sure what the deal is, so we'll be kept in the loop." Yawning into her palm, she stands. "I'm beat. Goodnight you guys."

"Night Sel'." The two reply.

She sees them lift their book again. Walking upstairs, she thought about showering but remembered that she's already taken a quite thorough one earlier. So going into the guest room instead, she grabs her nightgown from the luggage and stripping down to her underwear, she then slips the powder yellow gown on over her head before climbing into bed. It may be eight something, but she sure is tired. And honestly, exhaustion is the only thing keeping her from endulging in a really big pile of fish. Weird.

8 8 8

"Uuum, Rinoa." Penny taps the girl on the shoulder.

"Huh?" She stuttered to a stop; a startled yelp came from her throat. "Oh, aha ha, Penny. I'm sorry, I didn't see you standing there."

Smiling, she steps around the shorter girl going then back to what she was doing, which is cleaning up the test equipment and helping starilize the needles and things. Helping the the patients get settled. Its not a problem, its just a bit strange how its being done at almost three times the speed of any normal person.

"Is it just me," Dak whispers to his fellow Trabian Penny. "or is sheee..."

"Moving a little fast? Yeah, I noticed too." Crossing her arms, she shakes her head. "Maybe she just wanted to get a lot done and figured she'd cast Haste to do it."

"Yeah but, doesn't that usually have like... a reddish glow with it?"

"You're right... Maybe she's found a new way to tap nto magic without casting." Penny teased.

"Ha. Wouldn't that be something." Dak chuckled.

But still. It is very strange.

"Do you think its side effects from the poison smog?" Penny wondered.

"Its creepy to think about it, you know, magic losing control inside of you..." Dak cocks his head at the speed demon buzzing about the room. "just casting itself without your permission."

The two shivered. Such a thing could be dangerous if its attack magic. Maybe Rinoa should have some test done on her as well?

8 8 8

Azena shook with weakness of the knees. Her hands release the handles of the machine, and she falls to the dirt floor. Her men gather to help their ruler, and they lift her from the cool earth floor walking her in through a cave opening. They laid her down on the pillows and puffs covered in a large blanket. They made this for their queen months back. They do not need to sleep or rest, but they understand the need of it with their Ruler. She is half human after all.

The men gather around the bed and insure her health is fair. Azena is sweating heavily, and her breathing is rapid and shallow. But she doesn't care. The pain is a small price to pay for the overall knowledge that the village in the desert has been obliterated. ...The birthplace that's caused her so much pain, and destroyed her family, is now nothing more than a rotting compost heap.

It was unusual for one of the stoic, zombie-like men to exhibit such emotion as he nearly tripped over his own feet and robe making his way into the make-shift bedroom. The others cleared the way for him. He dropped to his knees and whispers into the young woman's ear.

"How could they! ...Rrrr." Pain raked her body just from trying to sit up as she spoke. Laying back down, her glare could melt glaciers. "How could anyone dispel that much poison? HOW!? They should have all died!" She smacks away one of her minion's hands when he set it down on her chest to keep her down on the bed.

The Zealot leaned over and whispered the scenario to her.

"Damn them... rrrr.. They're more formiddable" Calming herself, she closes her eyes and very carefully says. "I need more strength then. The more towns infected, the less likely they'll be able to cure them all. And anyone left alive, shall be turned into slaves in my new world." She pounds her fist against the bed in anger. "If only I didn't need to regain my strength after each use."

A Worshipper approaches, dark purple robe swishing as he moves across the soil floor. Kneeling, he mutters to his Ruler about something he's discovered while doing research.

"Tincture?" She listens a bit more. "Can it really do that?"

He nods.

"Find the recipe and make a batch, make eight!" She corrects. "I need enough destructive power to change this filthy planet. Until then, pick a location and show them some pain."

"Yes Misstress." They hiss in unison, though only two leave the room.

Somewhere in Haspberry Plains, but high up on a cliffside, early in the morning the next day. Laguna Loire gives a big yawn. Swallowing, he's suddenly very alert and hurriedly crawls over to a nearby ledge. "Bleh! Bleh! Bleh!" He exaggerates as he spits out morning breath and saliva. "Uuugh!" He then groaned.

On his feet, he walks over to his knapsack and removes a little bottle of mouthwash he'd taken from the Dollet Hotel after he'd spent a night there when arriving 3 days ago. Gargling and spitting, a refreshed sigh is expelled and he's now standing proudly looking out to where the sun should be rising within a half hour. Another beautiful morning.

And he'd gotten to see his Grandson ride through lastnight; it was hilarious, when the teen was standing on the beach he threw a rock down at him, pegging him right on the back- Kait didn't even feel it! Body of stone, that's his boy alright! Or maybe Kiros and Ward meant it in sort of a hard-headed way, whenever they've said it about him? Hmm. Either way, it had him laughing out loud about it.

He's up in the mountains because he's writing another article for Timber Maniacs Global Expedition Version. Now and then Laguna does articles for them, they're a good little slice of fun for the aging male, and the pocket change isn't bad either. Laguna's an explorer at heart. Stars over his head, dust and little bugs in his hair, pained hips from sleeping in a sleepingbag; you know, the life!

"Breakfast." He declares to noone.

Rifling for the only pan he's brought with him, he removes a battery operated coffee brewer next, then some food stuffs. A can of spam, an egg from a tin box- hopefully they haven't spoiled with the heat conditions, but it had cooled off lastnight, and since he'd bought them in town around five p.m, he figured they'd be good-to-go. Setting up breakfast took a good ten minutes, and making a fire off barely anything took a little bit longer.

But by the time the sun came up, he's got a nice hot cup of coffee in his hands while he sits half indian style- his bad leg is outstretched to keep it from cramping up- he sips gradually while watching its beauty.

"Whoa! Ooof!" Falling forward he spills the rest of his cup all over the rocky cliff. "What the?"

Grabbing his favorite assalt rifle from its duffle, he takes aim at the monster he believed to be hunting for his scented meal. Laguna blinked in surprise when seeing that the Thrustaevis' had plans elsewhere; slamming into him was just a mistake on their part.

"What the what?" Peering over the cliffside, he cocks his head. "Are they heading into town?" Crawling, he removes his binoculars from his knapsack and zooms them in on Dollet. Strange bird brains. But that wasn't the weird thing. A dark cloud is heading their way. A storm is coming.

Author's Notes: Excuse my misspellings, and grammar! ^_^


	4. In Plain Sight

He had to endure the heart-wrenching screaming for the entire ten minutes it took him to get off the mountain side. Was the storm really that bad? Power outtages, a few fallen powerlines, and maybe a struck house or two, but all the screaming and the booms? Or maybe the panic is due to the flock of Thrustaevis that flew by a moment ago? But they surely aren't the cause of all those loud booms that came in tow with metal scraping.

"Ah!" He lands hard on his buttocks after slipping down from the last leg of the descend.

Rubbing the pain away; he shakes off the slight daze. He's just about to lower his hand to the to the cool grass when he hears a low _hisssss_. Paused in his action, he swallows hard and cast his dark greens down where his hand is hovering over a large Anacondaur.

_'Alright, Laguna, think! ...You've got no ice magic- or any magicks for that matter. If I move, it'll strike me, or worse squeeze me, or even worse than that- spit acid! Aaww shoot!'_

Sneaking a longer glance, he sees that the large reptile is actually slumbering- or passed out- in the cool grass in the mountain's rich shade.

He laughs in his head; a big goofy grin spreads across his face. _'Its asleep! I'm in the clear!'_ Tucking his hovered hand between his semi-parted thighs, Laguna gets himself up from the ground. Pointing down at the creature he says "Stupid snake!" out loud with a joyful laugh that threw his head back when it came out.

It seemed the Anacondaur was not as deep asleep as the former soldier had thought. As soon as its tongue came out, it felt the movement of its surroundings and spots the man beside him. And while he boast his acomplishments through a mental pat on the back, the snake slithered its way around his feet and up his long legs.

"Ahaha- huh?"

With a gasp from his throat, Laguna swiftly heft his M16A4 from around his shoulders- where it lay against his back- and quickly switched it to 'semi-mode' in order to fire off one very powerful round. Jaws open over the man's snack of a head, the monster didn't get to pull the grape off the man's neck, since the bullet made its way up through the monster's open jaws and out through the back of its head. It flailed it agony, but not before giving the man a good squeeze, as if its death were a double-edged sword. You hurt me, I hurt you back.

Laguna bared his teeth against the pain and to keep from screaming because, really, it hurt. Its like being blanketed in razors that slant out just for the purpose of shredding into whatever its touching. But after its last hurrah, the monster does release him and falls limp to the ground.

Catching his exerted breath, Laguna was made aware of his reason for getting off the mountain when another scream caught his ears. Bleeding, though only a little, he heads into Dollet, ready to protect and serve.

But, when he crossed into the city he was not expecting the sight before him... Darkness, like midnight hours. He was suspecting that if he left town it would still be a bright sunny morning coming upon him, not this blackened abyss. And amidst the midnight was the most horrifying thing of all. Fires. Decapatation. Smashed vehicles. Bodies. Dozens of them! And not just people, but even animals: cats, dogs, pigeons, all strewn about the fiery streets! What could have caused all this?!

A rumble of thunder boomed loud in his ears, scaring the crap out of him as he ran for cover in an alley when a car came speeding down the street right before crashing into a deli store's large window. The driver seemed oblivious to the accident, but no man could ignore being caught on fire. The crushed door didn't need to be opened by the driver, because it's already popped open due to the crash; the driver dashed out of the car adding fire to the- well- fire as he ran for something or someone who could help put him out. Laguna could do nothing.

Leaving his hiding place, he's alerted to the dark sky glowing with lightning. The flash was bright enough to mimic the morning sky, but the streaks were so pronounced that unless the bolts hit something to light the sky up, the streaks just look like long dangerous tears running out of the cloudy sky.

He looks left and right, all around! Wondering, "Who can I help?" "How can I help them?" and "How do I stop the cause of all of this?" There must be people inside the buildings. He can help them! And they were in town before he got in, so they must know what's really going on. Just as the thought occured to him, he sees a couple banging their fist again the glass windows in the barber shop across the street. He can start with them.

Dashing over, he feels his height shrinking. He's not shrinking though, as that would be impossible, but he is falling. Something grabbed him around his ankle to get his attention, and he moved before he could feel it, so the sudden jerk coming from his bad leg toppled him completely. Momentarily stunned by the sudden chin to the concrete street, Laguna looks over his shoulder spotting what could be a man or a woman; its hard to tell because the person is so burnt up. He can't even see the whites of their eyes!

"Help.." The voice rasps. "P- please."

"I will." He leans over to be face to face with the poor victim, who's still latched onto his ankle. "Come on. I'll get you inside, or to a hospital." He looks around for anything with a safety appearance. _'Would a hospital be open during something like this? I don't even know what this is!'_

It didn't matter either way, the burn victim had died shortly after speaking to him. Hardened hands peel the charred grip from his ankle, and he stands up. Again he takes a look around the carnage, and recalls the couple banging on the window at the barber shop. Hurrying off that way, he sees something strange by the street light at the corner out of the corner of his eye. But he can't bother with it now, he has to see if those people are all right.

The shop is dark, lit up only when the lightning outside flashed through the windows. He looks for the two who were trying to signal him; they must have hid when they thought that he wasn't coming.

"Hey," He whispered, though unsure as to why. "anyone in here?"

"We're here!" A woman with a blond pixie cut rushed over to him, throwing her arms around his torso. "Thank Hyne, someone else is alive."

The dirty blond male came over as well, though he doesn't touch him as this woman has, he instead stands beside them with a skittish look cast out the window.

"Did you see them?" He asks. "Are they still out there?"

"Are what still out there? What is going on?" He asks them, holding the women back at arms length.

"I came to get a hair cut, my sister was picking me up afterwards." He looks to the woman he was holed up with. "I saw something banging on the window... it... it looked like a monster." He shakes his head, still unable to believe any of it. "They seemed to come out of nowhere... but only after the weird eclipse."

"Its not an eclipse, something strange is covering the sky around the town." Laguna looked out the window. "I just got in, but while I was on the mountains I saw this storm cloud coming over from the distance."

"You're saying this is a storm?" By this she meant the darkness. "I thought it was caused by those creatures." Releasing Laguna, she lets out of a heavy sigh that seemed to drop the weight from her shoulders.

"I'm not sure," Laguna moves to the window. "Are you the only two in here?"

"Yes, just me and my brother, Thomas. I'm Paula Shaun."

"I'm Laguna," He looks to Thomas. "You said there are monsters?"

"Yes, at least three kinds that I've seen." Thomas is becoming more skittish by the flash of lightning- and they are aplenty.

"Do you recognize any of them?"

"Snakes, HUGE, and something just ugly... it looked like a mushroom."

_'That must be what I saw by the street light, a Funguar.'_ He thinks.

"And the other looks like-" His gaze shoots to the window right before something bashes into it. "I- its right there!" He points.

Snatching his screaming sister by the upper arm, he heads into the supply closet. Laguna stared out the window, seeing what could only be a Blitz. They must have been attracted to the lightning storm, and the they've gotta be the cause for its being so extravagant. But even still, they're a long ways from Centra. How did they get out here? One of life's mysteries, he guessed.

Cocking his gun, he takes aim and fires. The bullet landed right between the creature's eyes. It looked into the shop with a confused expression before it starts for the shattered window. Laguna opens fire, popping off bullet after bullet into the body of his opponent. Black blood spilled all over its long coat, that looked a lot more seal skinned than it should, when seeing it upclose.

The former soldier was beginning to wonder if he were missing his shots, the Blitz should not have gotten that close to him before falling dead at his feet.

Sighing in relief, he wipes faux sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "Phew. Had me worried." Turning around to face the supply closet, he says to the pair. "You guys can come out, its dead."

The door remained closed.

"Did you hear me? You can come out." Moving to the door, he pulls at the knob.

"No!" They call out.

"What? The monster's dead!" He's calling through the door. "I can get you safely out of town! Open up!"

"You broke the window, didn't you?" Paula asks.

Laguna blinked at that question. Looking over his shoulder, he then turns back to the door. "Not intentionally. What's wrong?"

"The air... Something's wrong with it!"

Shocked by that statement, Laguna went oldschool ninja mask by pulling his light purple t-shirt up over his nose to shield him from any toxins that might get in. A little late considering he was outside only moments ago breathing rather heavily of the charged air.

"It puts you to sleep!" This is Thomas shouting now, over the storm and through the door. "That's when the accidents started, people were falling asleep in their cars."

_'That's why that guy hit the building, he was asleep. The crash woke him up...'_

Laguna missed the crunching sounds behind him. A Funguar is wriggling its way through the rubble, after collapsing down onto the floor over the uprise of concrete before the glass started. And once it picked itself up, it swayed its way over to the distracted man; its vertical mouth parted to reveal its sharp teeth.

"I've been outside for a while and I haven't fallen under any sleep spell." He jiggles the knob. "Please, I wanna help you, but you have to let me!"

Banging on the door a bit more, he gives up when there's no response. Dropping his hand it swung back and brushed against something solid, that definitely should not have been there. The former soldier spins around, having to slam his back against the door when the monster made a lunge for him. It doesn't get the chance to sink its teeth into him, though, because his leg juts up and he slams his foot into the long bill of its mushroom cap. Its large eyes boggle about in a stupor, while its body is writhing from the blow to the head, having it resemble a semi-filled water balloon.

Shooting at it, the mushroom monster dances backwards until its flipped out of the window from the impact of the last bullet.

"What's happening?" Paula shouts.

"A monster got in. But," He calls over his shoulder through the closed door that he's got his back pressed to; he wants to keep his attention on the broken window. "don't worry about it. I've got your guys' backs, if you'll just let me!"

He pops the clip from his gun to check the bullet count. Not many. Infact, he can't take too many more shots if these things come at him in droves. And since they aren't going down with one bullet, he'll be defenseless in no time. But hopefully, he'll be out of town with the brother and sister before that happens. He'll have to either head into another town for bullets or rob a artilary store.

"Shit," He mutters. "my bag is up on the mountain, along with my phone."

Laguna wasn't expecting a day like this; a couple monsters on the cliff, sure, but nothing this strenuous. Its why he brought only one clip. Its why he didn't think it was so bad that he'd need to bring his phone down with him. But this is Hell on Earth! And now they're telling him something is drifting through the air causing people to sleep!

"We can make it out of town," He says to the couple as confidently as he can. "you just have to trust me. Its worth the risk! You don't have to hide in this closet."

"But the snakes have poisoned people!" Paula shouted. "We watched it happen! The wind blew and this child fell asleep, and before we could run out to get him a snake bit him!"

"What?!" He missed that comment over the BOOM of thunder.

"I said-..."

Laguna didn't hear her anymore after that, he was off again, this time chasing after a young man with his hand on his head. He looks drunk with how he's drifting left and right, and stumbling with nearly every step.

"Hey!" He calls out over the noise, made louder by his being outside.

The young man turned to him, and it caught Laguna's breath in his throat. Half his head is missing! But how, he couldn't say. Did a Blitz do this? Maybe the Funguar? It couldn't be the Anacondaur. But when he reached the young man, he caught him in his fall and got a better look at whats happened to him. It was a snake bite, the amount of venom was causing his head to dissolve; the bite was made up around his right arm's chest and shoulder, just like the one dozing outside had tried to do to him.

"He-... Huh?" He tried saying. "Manna... I-ugh." His hand came up touching who he hoped would be his hero's cheek.

Blood sputtered up from his mouth, and he gags on it. Laguna turned his caved in head for him, and allowed the blood to drain from his mouth before he drowned in it.

"I'm sorry." He whispers to the convsuling male. Setting him down, he stands up and looks around.

There are a lot of buildings to check out. But he has to make the effort. He was President once- true- it was President of Ethar, but it sort of went without say that he was sort of incharge of all the towns and the people who reside in them. The Mayors have the upclose and personal, but he has the overall say. But its more than that, he grew up a Galbadian Soldier and he has the utmost sense of duty to his country, and with Hyne as his witness he will get these people to safety!

The library is the closest to him. There could be people hiding in there.

_'Come on leg, don't fail me now.'_ He coaches himself when he feels that familiar nervous knot tightening his knee.

There were sightings of slithering Anacondaurs along the way, but they payed him no mind and went about like their being in town was a normal accurance. There's been so much chaos in such a short amount of time, it was spell binding to think about. The dark cloud from earlier seemed like an omen when you think about it; and as he banged on the locked library doors, calling over the storm to be let in, he takes a pause when he noticed that the flag beside the door with its seasonal blue waves and sewn on sun began to gently sway. The wind is blowing...

Remembering what the pair had said, he covered his nose again then went back to banging on the door. "Open the door! I'm not a monster!" Trying to use the power card, he adds. "This is former President of Esthar, Laguna Loire! Please, open the door!" He turned the knob again, only this time it opens. "Thank you." He breaths out.

Stepping into the building made his stomach tighten, it seems his bumb leg isn't the only thing getting nervous. His eyes look left and right for signs of life.

"Please don't come any closer." A small voice whispered from the hide away behind the check-out counter.

"Why? I wanna help you... I can get you out of here."

He wanted out of there, to be honest. The book shelves look like big black giants ready to smash you flat as a pancake if you made too many sudden movements. The white around to room looks like spirit mist, and its giving the room a really nasty chill, even in this heatwave.

"So many of them..." She sniffles. "I did it." A sob came after those words, and she's now gently crying.

"What did you do?" He asks, and slowly starts moving toward her hiding spot. The cold is becoming more intense, causing him to rub his arms to remove the chill. "Did you keep others out?"

"No." She sniffles.

"Umm, did you cause all this?" He didn't mean it in a negative way, but he wants to keep her talking to maybe calm her down.

"Nooo." It was groaned.

"Well, what then?" He asks, just a few short steps from the counter.

Lightning flashed again, shining in through the back windows. He spots several people standing back there, highlighted by the flash. They aren't moving, and they don't seem to even be aware of the two conversating. The library isn't like the tiny barber shop, the walls are thicker and the building has more weight to it with the extra floors, so he doesn't have to shout over the noise of the thunder storm going on. So why are these men and woman so passive?

"...Are they ok?" He asks the girl when passing her hiding place to instead speak with them. "Excuse me?" He reaches out and touches a guy closest to him.

The body tipped forward and smashed apart against the wooden floor. He wonders about them being statues, but they're so cold it'd be more like ice sculptures.

"I did that... I'm soooo sorry." The girl is saying from behind him. "So sorry."

"Did what?" He asks until another flash lights up the room.

It revealed that they aren't statues, but people! _Frozen_ people! And he just broke one of them... His heart begins to race. The girl said that she'd done it... _She_ froze them! But how?! With Blizzard? Why would she need to do that? Spinning around, he's relieved to see that she hadn't snuck up on him as the Funguar had, but she's instead standing over by another set of windows at the other side of the room. When the room is lit up, he can see she has a huge chunk of ice coming from her hand- or that her hand IS made of ice.

"How..?"

"I don't know." She sobbed.

He can make out a cadet uniform in the flickering light. She's from a Garden, though he isn't sure which. It must be Trabian, though, he's seen his nephew in the Balamb and Galbadian uniform. But this one isn't like either of those, its a very pale silver. Its not the only thing that's pale either, the girl is as white as a ghost. And her lips are a dark blue, her ears are too. She looks inhuman, almost... well, like a monster. Maybe she did do all this.

"We were all hiding out," She says softly. "I was just asking them about making a break for it, when I felt a sort of cold run through me... then I was just freezing, and not just myself.., everyone in the room!" The cadet is crying again. "Anyone near me started to freeze like that! I touched two already and broke them, just as you did... I hid behind the desk- what's happening to me?" She's crying in earnest now.

"I don't know. But I'm gonna find out." He assures her. "But, you have to stay here, you might be too dangerous to travel with if I find more people." He's making his way for the door. "I'll be back, but I want you to stay here... okay? Stay here."

"I didn't do it on purpose." She repeats.

"I know." He holds a hand out toward her, to comfort her. "I'll be back. I promise you."

"It was an accident." She wept against the window glass.

Its freezing over where her forehead is pressed to it. The sound of the crackling ice spreading sounds like the glass is breaking right away. If she doesn't move, its going to shatter.

"I think you should get back behind the desk and wait for me." He requested of her in a kind tone. He doesn't want her to continue panicking.

"I... okay." Nodding, she walks over to the desk like a doll on strings, one jerked, flopped step at a time; it was like watching a ghoul in a horror film, its frightening but you can't look away. To make it worse, she grabbed the edge of the counter and froze in place.

Laguna's heart sank seeing the statue, but what could he do. If he carried her, he could end up like the others. His gaze cast a look over the darkened silhouettes over by the windows. There may be help for the ones who have not been smashed, he just can't tamper with the situation any further. Lifting his shirt once again, he steps out the door into the broken scene of the streets.

"Aaah!" A teen shouts.

Laguna was startled as well. He hadn't expected to have someone come flying around the corner at the crosswalk and smash into him. Helping the teen up, he hurries him into a nearby building.

"We have to get out of here." He says to the teen.

"I need help... my Dad, he fell asleep and he's not waking up, and I can't carry him myself."

"Okay. Take me to your house."

Nodding, he exits the building feeling a lot better now that help was on the way.

"We heard a loud boom, my Dad opened the window to let the breeze in, 'cause its been so hot, and next thing I know he's passed out on the floor. I didn't know what happened, I thought something hit him, but when I checked on him I found out that he was only sleeping; I looked down onto the streets and saw what was going on- it scared the shit out of me... I closed the window, and pulled my Dad into the bathroom to hide with me. I didn't leave the house until I was sure it was safe, but then" He paused to push open the door to his home. "I didn't know who to turn to; once I got to the police station, and found that they were all gone... I don't know what happened, the sirens stopped blaring a while ago." He closes the door. "I think they all fell asleep somewhere like my Dad."

"I'm here now." He squeezes the male's shoulder.

"We can take my Dad's car." He rushes upstairs. "He's this way!" He called over the boom.

Following the teen up the stairs of his home, he turns off into the first bedroom. Stooping, he places the man's arm around his shoulders. The teen does the same. And together, they carry his Father out of the bedroom and into the hall. Even in the distance they can hear hissing.

"One of those snakes got-.."

Cutting the boy off, he replies. "I heard."

"Here." He moves the man's weight over to him. "You hold him while I handle that." Holding his gun, he braces himself for combat. If he runs out of bullets... they're screwed. "And if I say..." He racks his brain. "Uuumm- holes in the attic- you bring your Dad downstairs and don't look back, just do the best you can to get him out of this house."

Scared, the teen nods. "But wait, what does it mean? You can't help me?"

"I'm just short on ammo, but I definitely wanna help you."

Something crashes to the floor downstairs.

"I'll distract it if my ammo runs out, that's why you have to do your best to move your oldman downstairs and outside- alright?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Wait here." Creeping from the room, he can't help but think as he travels down the stairs. _'I'm getting too old for this sort of thing.'_

Back against the wall, he looks around the corner. The snake isn't too bright, its got itself coiled around a long lamp post, giving it a tight squeeze like its laying waste to its prey. Its so enthralled at what its doing, he's sure they could sneak by.

_'Can snakes hear... Can a snake hear?'_ He wonders with a scratching of his head. _'One way to find out.'_ Turning to look up the stairs, he sticks his fingers between his teeth and gives a whistle.

"What does that mean?" The teen asks wondering why he didn't hear any fire.

"I mean... Head over heels." Laguna whispers up the stairs.

"What?" He asks.

"Whatever I said I'd say... let's just say, I said it." He replies. "And we don't have much time, so come on."

Slowly, due to the weight of his Father, the teen rounds the corner to the stairs. Laguna met him halfway up, and took a hold of the man. While the large snake bites off the lamp's "head", the three make their way out to the car parked at the side of the street.

"We need the key!" The teen recalls.

Before Laguna can grab him back, he's off and running into the house.

"Kid, wait!" He calls but judging by his garbled screams its too late.

He didn't think he was strong enough to lose one more person through this. This job is simply too big for one person, especially one slightly gimp, exhausted, person. Very exhausted._ 'But that cool breeze sure feels nice.'_ Smiling, he turns his face toward the cooling breeze, and he took a deep relaxing breath.

The Anacondaur finished with its meal and slithered about for dessert, and when it came upon the sleeping men, it wriggled its tongue joyously through the air. Unlike human snakes, an Anacondaur can swallow enough to amount to a SUV because of its stomach acid being so fast in breaking down what it eats. And seeing Laguna drop to his knees and hit the ground, it knew it was in for a good snack.

Tires screech noisily on the dry street, and a car spinning out of control slams into the parked car of the dead teen's family, sending the vehicle into the starving snake killing against the home when the weight of the car smashes into it. If Laguna were awake, he would have heard the sickening sound of the teen's meatless bones crunching from inside the monster's gut. But instead he lay motionless, beneath the skidding car thats ended up right over top of him, after coming to an instant hault when it hit the parked car.

Laguna lay there, resting, beneath the wreckage. All around him screams, storming, and a mumble in the wind. It's like the town was drunk, because none of it made any sense. When one piece fit, another came along that just didn't. The lines blurred somewhere between reality and fiction.

A man staggered out onto the street screaming like he was on fire, but he's holding his head in pain. Something's on his back, hidden beneath his shirt and it appears to be bubbling like boiling water. Thrashing in movement, he drops to his knees. The pain is great that he can't even scream, but his mouth is open.

Long teeth shove out natural human teeth, leaving fangs in their place. His bubbling back stretches and there's an unnatural sound as a large pair of wings rips through his skin.

"Somebody please!" An elderly man calls out.

The mutating man turns his beady blood-shot eyes to the delicious fresh scent of meat in the air.

"Young man, please help me... there's a thing in my house."

Drool drips from its fangs, and as if he's had them his whole life, his wings expand out to their full length and he leaps into the air diving down on the man feet first, crushing him flat by the shoulders. Dinner battered, he sinks his teeth into the exposed inards that popped up through his skin from his brittle bones stabbing through his flesh.

He wasn't the only one. Many people locked away in their homes are falling victim to loved ones morphing out then coming after them. Pretty soon no one will be left... no one but the monsters.

Rinaul Coast. 11:37 a.m. Its a beautiful bright sunny day at 78 degrees, and the salty sea air is blowing North East at a comfortable 17 miles an hour.

"Gittie up, little Mesmorize!" Zell called while leaping onto Irvine's unsuspecting back.

Making neying and whinnying sounds, he tips his head forward giving the shorter length of his damp hair a good shaking, before charging off with the rider.

"Come on, Squall, we'll play knights!" Zell calls from the distance.

"I'm the knight around here, Dinky!" Seifer calls after him, but mutters to himself. "The Hell is 'gittie'?"

Crossing his arms, Squall shakes his head. "Well?"

"Tch. Climb on my back and you're dead." Replied the oppointed horse.

"Hn. What? You've never wanted me to ride you before." He puts on a knowing smirk, then heads away from the ex-knight to join his son's friend Raul on the blue and white checkered picnic blanket.

A lot of cadets are at the beach since this is practically the last free day they have before exams. And unaware of when Garden will show up, they have to live every day as if it were their last- hard as that is during tourist season, since every where is crowded or booked full.

"Eat my ass, Leonhart! That was _one_ time!" Seifer snips before he's leapt upon by Selphie.

"Onward, trusty steed!" She shouts, holding a long stick in the air.

Hearing the shout of "charge", Irvine makes a u-turn from his trek to dump Zell over into the ocean and hurries to the challenger.

"Wait, wait. I need a stick." Zell says to his horse.

Looking around, Irvine spots some drift wood a couple feet away. "A club'll do." Readjusting his grip beneath the rider's knees, he heads for the drift wood.

"Hurry! They're coming!" Zell cried, but it was too late.

And the two riders engage in clashing sounds while their poor horses endure the battle. Squall watched with amusement, glad that he had no part of it. Changing sitting positions, he begins fixing himself a chicken borrito; he notices that Raul is sneaking glances at him in the process.

"Something the matter?" He asks with a certain tone.

The reason is that he's hoping like Hell to get an answer that wasn't a mouthful of awkward stutters because the kid 'likes' him or something. He's had a little too much of that scenario to last him a lifetime. First with Quistis when she was fired as an instructor, then Seifer- multiple times- when they've gone on missions together, or they had a good work out at the gym, or a productive training session. But the advances only happened after he'd rejoined Garden, never before. It was always so dumb, and he had no tact to it just: "Let's fuck around" or something like that. They've all experienced the sudden interest in each other, but they'd never talk about it with that person. Hyne forebid Seifer be discrete about it. But, this is Seifer we're talking about, guy probably thinks he has a chance. Ha!

"I was wondering," Raul brought him from his thoughts.

The hispanic male is definitely about to confess something, he can't even look at Squall, he's busy trying to either remove the color from the blanket or the loosen the threading. But he suddenly became very shy about whatever the rest of that sentence was going to be. Kait only had one shy friend his whole life, and that was Antione, but the two haven't talked since he's joined Garden. It was then that this kid took over as the number one friend. That thought seemed to strike a cord, and Squall asked.

"How long have you liked him?"

Looking like a Deer in headlights, Raul shakes his head. "I don't... I mean, I won't if I know that I don't have a chance with him." Looking pleadingly into Squall's dual colored eyes, he asks meekly. "Do I have a chance with him?'

"You know he's seeing someone, right?"

"And I love Leo!" He admits a little louder than his normal voice goes. "But, if things didn't work out with them?"

"I don't know." He shrugs, already wishing he'd never sat down. He'd rather be getting pulverized for playing horsy with Seifer and everyone. "This is really something you should be talking with Kait about, its not up to me who he sees, and I don't think I have grounds to put in a 'good-word' for you."

"Oh. I guess not." He lowers his downtrotten eyes to the blanket once again. "Sorry for bugging you."

"Forget it." Replied the male, who's staring out at his friends who're parading about like their aren't sixty other people out there as well. _'I already have.'_

"And please don't warn him beforehand, my Mom is always like that."

_'I wish you never told me.'_ Thinks Squall, but out loud he holds up a hand to respond of his sealed lips.

Raul clearly wanted to change subjects, when really the right action was to simply end the conversating right there, but he opens a new conversation with. "Where are we going for SeeD exams?"

"Hell."

"Really?!" He sounds spooked, looked it too. "I thought we were going to someplace around Timber to fight Ochus."

Setting down the can of soda he was drinking from, he replies, "There was a change of plans." then lifts the can to take another sip. Setting it down, he adds. "Galbadia said they were taking their cadets to Heaven, so we figured why not do the same?"

"Garden really thinks we're ready?"

_'I don't.'_ Thinks the man. "Garden will be docked on water, while cadets are on land. Each team of three will be assigned a General who can deal with the monsters if they become too much. There really shouldn't be a problem."

Raul, pleased that the original conversation was dropped- Squall wasn't even really all that invested though- he happily busies himself with taking huge bites from a corn beef sandwich with very rich brown mustard.

Zell and Selphie dropped their actual weapons and instead engaged in hand to hand combat of a single held hand, over their horses' shoulders. The point was to push the other person from their horses' back; so far all they seemed to be accomplishing was pissing off their horses' eardrums which they're shouting in.

Snickering, Irvine then says to the blond. "You wanna just drop 'em?"

"Yes."

Releasing hold of their riders, the two take a nasty little fall left; a hand still conjoined, as they recover from the tangled mess of limbs and sand they've become.

"Ow!" Brushing off her bikini bare hip, Selphie got up from the sand. "That's my good hip," She teased about being older. "I should sue; what if I can't help my cadets out tomorrow?"

"Then they die." Seifer rubs his lower back. "I'm gonna swim, its hot as shit out here."

Stretching his back with his arms swung up over his head and back, Irvine says. "Me too."

"Let's make sand feet." Selphie's on her knees already making heaps. "But in reverse like all those shows where people find Big Foot tracks."

"Okay." Crouching, he scoops some sand for prints as well. "I wonder why they're in reverse? Makes it seem really fake."

"Mhm."

"Hey, Sel'..."

"Hmm?"

"You still with that guy, Serge?"

"On again, off again. I mean," She looks up at him. "He's a cop, he lives in Esthar... I'm not gonna kid myself that certain _things_ don't happen with long distance relationships."

"You don't know that." Defends one male for another. "He doesn't strike me as the type to get all 'oh baby, oh baby' on someone." He couldn't help but think. _'He's attracted to the sisterly type after all, guys like that usually can't be seduced by some short skirt vixen.'_

Selphie's patting dirt for a second foot. "To the water."

Chuckling, Zell works on his second foot as well. "I mean, I was only wondering because I thought it'd be kinda cool if you two got married someday."

"Whaaat? Where'd you get marriage from?"

He shrugs. "I just thought that you two make a cute couple, and Seif's never gonna get on the ball with me, so..."

"Why not sign me up for a walk down the aisle?" She laughs. "Yeah right!"

"Seriously! Hey, these are the 20s, you should ask him."

"Ahaha, wouldn't THAT be crazy?" She replies. Smiling, she looks to the sky in thought. "Married. Maybe." She shrugs and goes back to her feet. "Next time I see him, I'll bring it up."

"Good luck, Sel'. And when he says 'yes', congratulations." He pops her one on the shoulder.

"Meeeh!" She sticks her tongue out at him with a wink. "Speaking of hotties, I wish Sir Laguna could be here. He always makes the day more fun."

"Uh-huuuuh." He smirks knowingly. "You still have a thing for him?"

"Soooo don't, besides, its not like anything can ever happen between us now."

"You never know, older guys like to feel like they've still got it- Ow!" He rubs his palm assaulted forehead.

"Don't be fresh in Sir Laguna's name." Though she's blushing.

She has thought about it now and then, and she's not that 17 or 19 year old girl anymore. She's a full grown woman, and he's only 62 years old to her 35. The guy still has it 'goin-on' for his age. He hasn't become some wrinkled old man gumming apple sauce, or creeping out the younger set with his dancing and come-ons. He's just that really cool, older guy. And really the only things stopping her are her boyfriend, and her emotional brother being the guy's son. Oh. The personal struggles.

Watching his friend quietly swoon, Zell shakes his head. "Yeah, you're over him." He goes back to making his foot path.

Seifer pops his head up from the luke warm waters, giving it a shake to get the water from his face. It always amazed Irvine seeing the blond's hair all soaking wet and hanging down over his head, he really must use a lot of product to keep several inches of hair slicked back. But then again, they all need a summer trim from the winter growth. They went on vacation to ski, and just let the days blow them in whatever direction it pleased.

"When are you idiots leaving?"

"Right after we leave the beach. You and Zelly should come with us, might do you some good."

"What? To have the scent of flowers blowing up our noses all summer?" He removes some itchy water from his chin by brushing it away. "Existing in a dry heat with no beach to relieve ourselves from it."

"Hey, they've got a lake."

"Whoopie a lake... I'll pass. Besides, we're gonna be shacking up in hotels while we travel with Garden during exams. That'll be vacation enough."

"Right. I forgot y'all don't have off."

"Ah heh heh heh." He laughed dryly.

"Don't be sour. We'll be out there right along with you in July."

Dunking himself under the water, since he was stationed in a particularly hot beam of sunlight, he pops back up. "Frankly, I don't care either way. I love fighting, and whereas three weeks worth of nothing but eating and fucking is nothing to sneeze at, we'll have it pretty good too."

Grinning like a fool at the future, he chuckles. "Hey, we go for rides too."

"Naked?"

"Ahaha... yeah alright, pardner." He splashes water at him. "We ride naked." He lied.

"I knew it." He laughs.

"You gonna watch our house til you both leave?"

"If you mean eat all your food, fuck in your bed, and do some Satanic shit in the bathroom, then yes." He grinned.

"That about covers it." He laughs. "...You hot?"

"Is it not eighty thousand degrees out?"

"No. I think it actually went down to seventy four."

"Hn." He splashed some water in his face. "Coulda fooled me."

"Wanna hear something strange?" He moves in closer, though no one important was really going to hear the conversation even though there are people around. "Squall was giving me a massage last night-..."

Cutting him off he says. "Mm. That is strange."

"No. That ain't it, the problem is that his hands were really friggin' cold- like..." He searches for a word. "gloveless winter, digging in the deep freezer for a while, cold."

"At what point am I supposed to take it seriously, instead of laugh over the fact that I knew he was an ice princess."

"The bed was cool on a summer night, that's all I'm sayin'."

"Again... Ice princess."

Scoffing, Irvine shakes his head. "Forget it. There's no serious conversationing when its about Squall, huh?"

"Nope." He looks as though he's doing a face cleansing commercial by leaning a bit and splashing water into his face. "You sure its not getting hotter?"

"Maybe you should go hug the ice princess." Irvine teased. Cocking his head when he doesn't get a snippy remark, he asks. "Maybe you're sick and don't know it?"

"I don't feel sick."

"Hence the don't know it part." He rolls his violet eyes. "Lemme see." Reaching for him, he holds him beneath his chin. "Its pretty hot. Maybe you should lie down for a while."

"And what? Eat chicken soup? Chicken soup on a hot day, when I'm already burning up."

"I don't know. Drink some ice water, and lay in an air conditioned room." He shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you, I'm no doctor."

"Exactly."

"You wanna go butt kickin' when Garden shows up, you better watch your health."

"Mhm." He rolls his head back.

"Hey darlin'!" He calls. "What time is it?!"

"Near one!"

"Bye Seif', feel better." He pats him on the head like he's a little kid.

"Asshole." He replied.

Wiping his hand across his forehead, he looks up at the sky before dunking himself under the water. Its probably cooler in Centra! What next, melting ice caps? Freezing deserts? Damn global warming.

8 8 8

"Support me!" Kait calls out before leaping onto a very tall friend's back.

He let out a refreshed sigh when his cheek falls upon the soft place between the male's brawny shoulderblades. Content, he lay there frowning, only to get jumbled and bustled about from his ride bouncing him a little higher up on his back.

"Yeah, yeah. Looking to change sides Kinhart?"

Chin resting on the male's shoulder, he snickers. "Spell it with an 'E' when you say it, its less of a straight shoot."

"But that isn't how its spelled." Repremands the ride.

"Well, whatever." He qoutes his Father, though its a bit off when you add 'well'. "We can't all be Von Helsing like you, Cliff." He slaps him on his big beefy shoulder.

Cliff's skin is a nice roast chicken color, but its all covered up beneath his cadet uniform, but he big muscles still show quite nicely through the material.

"True." He holds his head up very proudly. "What's with the piggybacking? You suddenly forget how to walk?"

"No." He rest his head back down. "I'm just feeling perchy."

Rolling his eyes, Cliff gives him a shaking before saying. "Well 'perch' when you get to your room. Get down."

Having crept along beside them going unnoticed, Kait's best Galbadian friend pokes him in the sides, laughing when he yelps and leaps out of his skin. "I'll carry you, bucko."

And before he could say 'yes' or 'no' he's lifted and held bridal style by the wirey male. He admired his friend's brown tipped black spikes up close, then looks at his pale face. "You know what, you're really cute, Sorin." He bats his lashes, laughing at the nauseous look on Sorin's face, especially when he starts tugging at his long ponytail.

"Ooookay, ride's over." He sets him down on the floor. "Now Kait, you know I'm solely into women."

"Uh-huh."

"The bigger the boobs, the tighter the pussy the better."

"Gross." Kait comments.

Walking steadly beside Sorin, he looks around the long gray hall. Oh the repression of Galbadia. In Balamb, you can look out at the courtyard or across the way into another hall while you walk the corridors, but Galbadia is like a bank's safe. No one sees in and no one sees out.

"Have you seen, Leo? I don't know where she is."

"Gym." Slipping an arm around his friend's waist he asks. "Why do you look so miserable? You two fighting?"

"Why would we be fighting?" Kait wondered. "No. I'm just... I don't know, feeling kinda gloomy."

"Probably because you're coming off the climate change. We're gonna hit the Esthar mountains in a while, then it'll get nice and cool." Kissing him on the side of the head, he smiles. "Cheer up."

"Meeeh." He sticks his tongue out before hard pouting.

"Yeesh. Don't make that face."

But Kait is curious as to why he suddenly feels so weird. Did he catch his Mother's cold? Its possible. He always feels down when he's sick. He's an outdoors type, he can't be confined. Not to mention if he's sick, he can't take the field exam.

"We probably won't even get to go out, if we don't pass the written test." Kait says to himself.

"Wow. Its like I'm looking at a mirror-boy." Spanking him on the butt, he detaches from his side to head into class. "Find your girlfriend, get _some_, and cheer up!"

Kait only waved a goodbye and kept moving to his class. He's been at school all day and hasn't seen his girlfriend, but with the way his mood was worsening he was kind of hoping to continue avoiding her. The last thing he needs is to snap at her, and then they get into a whole big thing. Its like he can't control it! This voice just keeps muttering to him.

_'What the heck is making me so down? I'm not like this.'_ He thinks. _'I mean, everyone's got a darkside, sure, but mine only whispers at me like once in a purple moon. This feels really... intense. Hyne, its like someone is whispering in my ear...'_

"Kait!" A Trabian girl says. "Where are you going? Class is back this way?" She waved a hand.

"Huh?" He blinks. Spotting the look on the girl's face, he gives a dry laugh. "Oops. I missed it."

"You really spaced out there."

"Its been happening all day, get off my back." Shaking his head, he corrects himself. "I'm sorry, about that... I'm going through something."

"Its called puberty." Hands on her hips, she turns her nose up at him and stalks into class.

"Hyne... I should just go back to bed." He walks into class behind her.

8 8 8

"He must be having a good time." Squall hangs up his phone. "I tried three times, and he's not picking up."

"Don't bother him," Irvine zips his duffle. "guy's probably in the zone." Wrapping his arms around his lover's shorter frame, he sways them back and forth. "I'll bet he's got so much going on in that novel, it'll make ladies flock to his love."

_'Gross.'_ Thinks the man's son.

Last thing he wants to think about is his Dad having dates, girlfriends, and sex. Laguna's an unintentional length talker, he'll trap them. Squall turned green at the idea of details.

"We need to get going." He shoves away the mental image with his words. "I paid for a sub ride. None of the trains are running now." He walks his bag to the door. "Only way to get around is by water, or air." Closing the door, he adds. "It should only take four hours to get out there."

"I can already hear that fishin' line casting." Trotting down the stairs, he pulls out his key.

"Zell's got the spare." He's going over the check list. "All the detectors are working. Stove's off. Windows are locked."

Cutting him off with a smooch on the lips, he says quickly. "The house'll be checked on. Let's go." Dropping his arm around his shoulders he steers him town and down to the pier where their ride awaited them.

The sea seemed so serene and peaceful as men, women, and children splashed around enjoying the warm weather. It was calm while fishermen cast their lines and watched their lures bob up and down on top of its sheet of liquid glass.

Balamb and Galbadia Garden drift slowly through the choppy waves of the farther out ocean waters, and beneath it where fish swin, jelly fish sway, something large moves about. Its long, and strong, and has enough force in its natural action of swimming to kill and de-scale any sea life it passes by. But where is the large creature going to? It seemed to have a goal.

It hissed at the submarine going by, but doesn't attack. Its mind is very driven to what it wants, and a little cat and mouse with the metal fish wasn't it at the moment. The serpant swirled around the support beams like a cat slinking about its owner's ankles. Its grace was almost beautiful... And then it went in for the kill.


	5. Reaching for a Lifeline

All boarders, cadet and instructor, watch as Balamb Garden sails to port. In the distance it looks like a giant mutant Easter egg, though up close the resemblance wasn't that much different either. Some students cheered, others gave an outward groan to match their inward slumping posture. Exams were not their favorite thing. Zell found himself giving out usefull tips to the cadets that asked, and Seifer remained a very stoic cool by ignoring any underclassmen who talked to him. Not to mention he's still near feverish from his body's choice to have a personal heat-wave today, so standing still is about all he can do. But, he can still be cool about it.

Selphie is among the people waving at Garden as if anyone onboard can see her, though maybe they can there are windows everywhere, someone must be looking out of one of them.

"Staaaand back everybody, she's pulling in!" Called the Dock Captain.

The group pulls away from the concrete edging and avoid the elevated water pushed up onto the grey surface by the vessel rowing in. From the Look-Out a large metal ramp slides down, one slab at a time, until it reaches the pier with a loud bang.

The Captain waved a big arm around, signaling to the boarders. "Double time in a single file, we don't want anybody going over from haste."

"I think some of the students are cast in _Haste_." Zell whispers to Seifer while taking a place in the line-up beside his lover; he's then cocking his head forward at a male who's bouncing from foot to foot like someone's shooting at his feet.

"Kids today." Seifer snips.

He was never that naive, or eager. He was a natural, so why sit there trying spells out on himself? He'd often seen Leonhart experimenting with freezing things, tiny little things like he was working on the amount of magic he could dispense onto something. So sad. Like he'd bragged himself up before... He's a natural.

"Boy, I hope you guys are at least ready for the written test, because Hell isn't like those simu-monsters in the training center. Those things are out for blood." Selphie yammers joyfully.

"Blood?" Asks a nameless cadet from someone else's squad.

Snickering beneath a cheese eating grin, Selphie nods. "Yup! Terrifying... I myself have been knocked out by them a couple of times."

Selphie was pleased to hear the cadets whispering and whimpering over the prospect of being downed in combat. It's good to be sure of yourself in battle, but never over confident. Something her newphew needs to master. He can be such a savior, that he doesn't even realize what dangers he'll run into. He sees battle scars as trophies rather than mistakes! But, at least he isn't a hot-shot who just likes showing off, and acquiring after a huge body count. She looks around her for any students who may be out for that type of position as a SeeD.

Burn seems the type. But he's mostly working towards Seifer's status.

_'He's doing a pretty good job of that, he hasn't made SeeD yet.'_ She thinks ruefully. _'Not to mention he still puppy-dogs Seifer as if he's his cadet when he's already got commander status.'_ She shakes her head in suppose that it can't be helped.

Once everyone has boarded, the ramp draws back into its port and the school sets its coordinance for _The Island Closest to Hell_.

...

"Quistis!"

The secretary slash liason smiled when hearing a voice that could only be Selphie's. Quistis braced herself for a slam but when the hug came she was very surprised by the show of restraint, and gently squeezed the energetic girl in return.

"Glad to see you all again, its been a while."

"Too long! You work too hard." Zell pats his friend on the shoulder.

"Its not all work." She follows along side of the 3, tapping a vanilla colored folder into her empty hand.

"It isn't?" Zell wonders innocently.

Selphie can't help but think that she's falsely accused as the naive one in the group, because even she could pick up on the subtle hint that Quistis has got a personal-time-friend here at Garden. But the question was, whom could it be?

Selphie begins looking around as though the person would just appear from somewhere like in television shows when they don't really want something to be a mystery, so they'll practically spoon feed you the answer by showing off the culprit in the next shot. But the only people walking around are teens of male and female going to class, or to their dorms or someplace. No one Quistis's age, unless...

"Hello, you three." Xu says to the group, walking up the hall beside the school's pilot, Nida. "Good to see you again... well, you two anyway."

Seifer rolled his eyes. He couldn't care less about the woman's grudge against him. Everyone has forgiven his being hypnotised it seems, except for her. She probably just needs a hobby that's easy enough for her pea-brain to accomplish, and "needless grudges" seems to suffice.

"Xu, you are thirty seven years old..."

"...And?"

"Aaand since it doesn't seem to be a news flash, act a little more professionally."

Nida waved a hand to the woman. "Relax, Xu." He requests, while his hand rubs gently against her back.

"I know, but he's such a pest..." She swats his hand away. "He gets under my skin on sight."

"Is Rinoa here?" Selphie asks; knowing the girl is supposed to be an examiner along with the rest of them, there's no way she's still in Trabia Garden.

"Already in your dorm." Quistis replied. "Trabia Garden dropped her off six hours ago. Selphie?" Grabbing the girl by the upper arm she pulls her in to whisper. "Is she all right?"

"Should be. Why?"

"She seems a little, I don't know... _off_."

"She was fine when I'd left her." Her big green eyes look towards the dormatory hall as if her vision could cut through walls to spy said girl at the moment. "What's she been doing?"

"Nothing too weird, just zipping about like she's on speed or something." She shrugs. "Some of the instructors in Trabia said she's been like that the entire time she was there, she coughs sometimes too."

"Coughing?" Selphie thinks to herself.

She's been coughing as well, but just figured it was a cold coming on, although when its the middle of summer one has to wonder after it being something else. Was such a thing possible, a cold in the summer?

Squall and Irvine would have noticed her hacks if it weren't for her keeping it quietly pressed into the pillow during the night, and those two sleep like the dead. She often wondered how they found time for night activities when they're always so ready for bed. But the coughing left her with such a gross coppery taste in her mouth, that she was sure to scrub her teeth and tongue, then swish with the mouthwash extra good that night and this morning. She'd been good at the time, but recalling it is making her throat itch.

"Dr. Kadowaki checked her out, said she's fine in both senses. Nothing magical or non-magical is going on with her."

Selphie's fabrickated symptoms died down in one quick, _phew!_ but she picked up her pace to go see the former rebel leader.

"You guys need to rest up, we need all the helpers we can get while the cadets are on the island." She says this when looking at Seifer's sweat beaded skin in the comfortable 72 degree temperature in Garden, its like a tropical island! But with the way he's sweating you'd think he'd been doing heavy arobics in the Fire Cavern before he boarded. "We'll be there in three days."

"I'm fine." Seifer says to her brow-cocked looks cast at him from behind her glasses.

"I'll see you guys at dinner then." She walks a bit faster, saying over her shoulder. "See you then."

Nida and Xu follow after her; watching this Selphie tapped her index finger to her chin then burst out laughing. There's no way it'd be all 3 of them!

Eying the girl who's full of hysterics, Seifer and Zell shake their heads in dismay that heat exhaustion has finall gripped her, and the two wander off into the men's dorm.

Composing herself, she hurries to the girl's dorms to look for Rinoa- they're sharing a room afterall.

8 8 8

"Clean up crew says that the red sand has been tested," Penny shows Augusto the report. "its not holding any toxic components there on the ground, but when picked up into the atmosphere, its very toxic."

"How is that possible?" The blond male looks over the sheet over paper for himself. Brushing a finger beneath his freckled nose, he then scratches the back of his head.

"Not sure. I've never seen a toxin that's only affective when its airborne."

"Come in!"

The pair turn their attention to the room beside the examination room, where a large computer screen has turned on. Its been monitoring the feeds from Viyanagara, so they can keep the villagers up to date with what's going on in their homeland. All of them are wiped out with exhaustion, but cured. Only one other person has died in recovery, and the body was tagged then placed in the morgue with the others.

They wanna go home, they wanna know if they have a home to return to. They don't know the world outside of their tiny rustic village, and more than half of them are axious about finding a new way to live. They can't do the modern things as more travelled humans can: not fixing cars, not working in markets with those register things, none of the modern day skills to teach a class, nothing! What will they do if they can't return home?!

"Get them out of there!" Shouts the man on the screen.

Pressing the send button, Penny responds. "What's happening, what's going on?"

"Something strange... Beatrice was hot, so she removed her helmit for a breather." Jack tries calming his paniced breathing. "She... she started acting funny, coughing... badly enough to produce blood, then she said she was burning up and itchy." The camera swings around. "That's all that's left of her."

Penny and Augusto's eyes bug out seeing a squashed pile of what may or may not be a human being. Its just a mess of glistening boils and steaming chunks of burst open muscle tissue and fat, the bones look burnt and shattered at the ends.

"And you say this happened because she took her helmet off?" Ausguto shakes his head. "She didn't... accidently injest the sand or something?"

He hoped it was something that simple. He can't help the creeping feeling sneaking up on him over the possibility of the villagers are carrying it inside of them, despite their being scrubbed down in the sanitation tents and having been cured of the toxin in their systems.

"No, it was all she did." Jack shakes his head. "This area is off-limits for habitation. Tell the town's people we're sorry."

"What are you guys gonna do?"

"What else can we do?" He shrugs his hand. "We can't take Bea' with us, she may be omitting toxic gases."

"Leave her then, but bury her... it isn't right what's happened, but it can't be helped." Penny sighs. "Get out of that area as soon as possible, we'll break the news to the survivors."

"Thank you."

"Take care of yourself." She says. "Penny, out." Turning off the screen since there's no longer a need to monitor the area, she braces herself to tell the remaining townspeople the bad news.

The two are barely out of the communications room when the screaming started.

"Alice!" Hurrying down the hall, she isn't followed.

Augusto has his eyes on another crisis just ahead in the room they were once in. There, just beyond the sliding glass door, is a creature black as night diving into one of the sleeping patient's backs!

"What the hell!?" He grabs at the door, but the lock is in place. Who locked the door?! Jerking on it, he bangs rapidly to call the monster's attention. "Hey! Heeeey! Over here, you ugly sack of shit!" He bangs on the glass.

The blackness turns its red gaze upon the sound, and hisses. Its practically invisible when it turns sideway before coiling itself quickly around its victim to give it a squeeze like a snake would do to kill its meal. The woman howled in pain as blood shot from her mouth, spraying down onto the mattress beneath her.

The creature slithered down from the cubical and onto the floor, moving at rapid speed over to the door where it flings the woman from the four foot distance it is from it, delighting in the bloody splatter her body makes against it.

"How the hell did a _Creep_ get in here?" He wonders outloud.

The monster slammed into and slashed at the re-enforced glass door, hungry to get at the living having no interest in the already dead. He or she took out the entire room just that quickly and quietly while they were talking with Jack in the next room. But how did the door get locked?

"H-... help me.." A young man muttered in a tucked away corner a short distance away.

Glancing at the creature one last time, Augusto makes his way over to the man. He swore under his breath seeing the curled up man's arm sliced open, and tears streaked down his face.

"My son.." He coughs. "He split open and" He sobs for a moment.

_'So that Creep came out of this man's kid...'_ Having heard himself, he wonders now. _'But wait? How did a monster get __**into**__ him?!'_ Certain that the man's nerves have just gotten to him, he asks. "Are you sure? The monster could have just been hiding out..."

"No! No! My son said he felt hot... he started coughing." The man pauses to cough as if he needed to show an example of what the sound was like. "My wife got up to cuddle him, and he tore..."

"Aaah!" Eyes tightly shut, and mouth set to spit, Augusto trembled away from the combusted pile of the frightened Father.

How did he? Did he really? Standing to back away, he's quickly toppled back to his butt on the floor when the ground shakes violently beneath him. Looking to where the loudest commotion is coming from, he sees Penny and Alice running from the room.

"What the hell was that?!" He called out to the pair rushing toward him.

A beep sounded and the glass door slid open with a loud thwak!

"Left, left!" Augusto shouts.

Jumping apart from their once held hands sprint; Penny tossed a _Firaga_ spell at the _Creep_ sending it writhing in recoil back into the room, but it wasn't down yet. Like a bullet, it shot out from the room aiming at Alice who gave it the best kick she could offer right in the gut. It hissed and swirled up like a spring, receiving a side swipe from the girl's other foot.

Alice isn't the best at martial arts, she's a swords girl; so her kicks meant nothing to the creature. Its all she has in self defense until she, and the others, can make it down into the strong-hold room where the weapons are stored.

"_Watashi no kamando ni..._" The air began to chill around her hand."_Blizzard!_" A large clot of ice began to circle and swirl over the monster's head. "Ali, move it!" She called out.

Alice rolled away, missing the large chunk of ice that bashed heavily over top of the monster's head, the weight so thick and powerful that it stapled him to the metal floor. The hit hurt more due to the metal floor freezing beneath it, and the creature writhed and spun like a coil until it died, melting away on the floor.

"I had to use _quake_, it came at me too quickly." Penny explains to Augusto what the sudden shaking was; Alice is helping him up. "Sorry." She meant for toppling him.

"What is going on?!" Alice, in a panic, asks. "How did that monster get in here? And what happened to the patients? They were all doing better, and now they've... I can't even call it combustion- they exploded!"

"There are toxins in the air, they were all exposed to it... Jack just-.." She's interrupted by coughing.

Eyes wide, Augusto drags Alice and himself away from her. "That's how it starts, you get hot or you cough!" Shaking his head, he stumbles backwards. "She's infected! Penny?!"

Hunched over, Penny grabs her head and begins screaming. Watching, they can only hold consoling hands out in her direction because they're too nervous to get close to her. Will she explode? Will she turn into a _Creep_ just as the young boy had?

Both onlookers caught their breaths when a wet sound filled the air; eyes glued to Penny both softly saying her name or making soothing sounds so that she doesn't feel alone, they're forced to listen to her ask in a gruff tone.

"What's hhhhappening to meee-aaah!"

Her pores began to release a white smoke into the air, it surrounded her like a large cloud.

"Pe-.. Penny?" Alice asked.

The sound of bending metal scraped like rusty nails on glass, and a low growl met their panicked ears. When the smoke cleared they're greeted with the horrible reality of a _Glacial Eye_ looking over them but something about it looks horribly different. It still looks like Penny! But her skin has turned many shades of blue, her hair a pale blond, her arms have been stretched into long hooks. She even has a long tail that's thrashing and snapping at the ground leaving slippery cold slabs in its touch.

Alice broke into a fit of manic screaming. "Where did that come from?"

"Calm down! We have to get out of here and alert the other cadets."

"But Penny..."

"She's not Penny anymore." He tugs her down the corridor.

Penny followed after them at a speed that said she is in no rush to attack, but that doesn't mean that she isn't. Red lazer streaks shoot down the hall after the two in a crooked path like a Z, cutting this way and that. Some of the things in the hall got burned up like potted plants, and wooden railings; the paneling over the lightbulbs is shattered along with the bulb. The hall is driven into darkness one set of lights at a time.

Ahead of them the elevator door dings open.

"Get back!" Augusto calls to the occupant stepping off.

Duncan looked confused until he spots the tripped out... whatever that is coming up behind them.

"You guys ok?" Duncan presses the button to go down. "What is that?"

"A glacial Penny." Augusto hunches over to catch his breath.

"A what?"

Alice is in fetal position, arms holding the back of her head while she rocks and cries.

"Duncan," Augusto turns his frightened blue slitted-eyes toward the male. "are there any other villagers in the school, besides in the examination wing?"

"No..." He stops to think, then replies. "No, I don't think so- unless we're counting the bodies in the morgue."

Pressing a button on the elevator, he calls the main office. "Lock down the second floor. There's no time to explain.."

They can hear the alert blaring all around them before _tong_ after _tong_ reverbs off the metal walls in the hall they're leaving.

"Oh Penny, I'm so sorry..." Augusto drops to the floor completely exhausted. That was way too much excitment for a weaponless medical team.

"That thing is Penny?" Ducan asks, still trying to get the facts straight. He was only coming up to offer more blankets to their guest, and he's greeted with Alice and Augusto all in a tizzy.

"A man, he was injured... he locked his son away and..."

"What?"

Augusto shakes his head. "This man's boy turned into a _Creep_, and then he exploded! Before we could figure it all out, Penny turned into a monster too." He sinks lower into himself. "We couldn't fight her... not Penny- oh man! Selphie's gonna be so pissed!"

"Nevermind that, we've gotta..."

"Whoa!"

The three rock and sway. Something brushed the cables holding the elevator causing it to rock like its a bouy in the ocean.

"Hurry!" Duncan dashes from the elevator the moment the door pulls open, followed by Augusto.

Alice wasn't as quick. Above them a long sharp hook swung at the cables of the elevator snapping them like they were little more than a spider's web against a rock.

"Alice!" The two call out.

But when the elevator dropped, the only part of her left on the first floor is her arm from the elbow down. And before the doors could close there was the quickest glimpse of the monsterous Penny diving down the shoot for the remains. Stunned, Duncan blinked at the bloody horror; Augusto fainted.

8 8 8

"Rrr..." Laguna groaned.

Sucking in a breath, he places his hands down on the wet ground. Groaning again, he touches the back of his head, luckily it would seem, because it acted as a buffer when hitting his head on the underside of the car when he'd gone and pushed himself up to stand.

"How could I forget I'm under a car?" He asks himself, now rubbing the greasy pained hand that got bopped beneath the car. "Am I laying in oil?" He wonders while sliding fromm beneath the metal protection.

Laguna's entire body feels like its been set on fire, and his stomach is growling on top of that. He had to wonder how long he was out for, while he composed himself. In the process of wiping his hands down the front and sides of his body, he got a good whiff of himself. He _is_ covered in oil! The slammed into car is leaking it.

"I can't stay in these clothes... one stray spark from a lightning struck _anything_ and I'm screwed. I'm just lucky that the car hadn't exploded in the impact."

He's been in Dollet a few dozen times to know where the clothing stores are, and the nautilus shop. He's gonna need some ammunition. Looking down, he sees the busted open remains of the snake that had attacked the home of the teen. The boy, who'd only wanted help in getting himself and his Father out of the city and look at him now, face bubbled off in acidic and gastric burns, chest cavity smashed in by the car that killed the _Anaconduar_. The gruesomely exposed child has definitely made it out of the city... along with his deceased Father.

"I'm sorry." He says to them.

Laguna can no longer hear any of the anguished cries ringing out over the boom of thunder and the noise of car horns, its as if any human remaining in town has either received help in his unconcious state, or they've simply vanished. He can see that the monsters still roam the streets, though. Its weird... have they multiplide? Its going to be harder moving around stealthly with the enemies count larger than his own.

Hand gripping his weapon against his back to prevent it from rattling about and creating attention, he stoops over to look more inhuman as he runs across the street. He hoped the walking alteration would keep his cover, because his numb limb is really getting a strain put on it. Ducking behind a sign shaped like a large triangle advertizing the lunch specials at a restaurant, he slumped to the ground to take a break.

Rubbing his leg, he sighs when a bit of warmth gets into it. _'Old age is not your friend, huh, buddy?'_

A _Imp_ burst from an apartment's window on an upper floor, landing heavily on top of a van parked down on the street sinking the roof in all the way down to the carpeted floor. Its fangs are dripping with drool and saliva-diluted blood. In its clawed hands are its victim's severed head, a woman of middle age judging by the thin skin beneath her eyes. A gargle came from the back of its throat before it stuck its nose in the air to sniff around.

Laguna, having peeked around the barrier right at this time, hoped the thing wasn't smelling around for fresh meat, or he'd be toast. Was the rest of Dollet's townspeople feld by these things? He could guess once the lightning died down the _Blitz_ left full and sleepy, or maybe they're around another part of town terrorizing people just as the new arrivals are.

A barking dog called the attention of the _Imp_ and the hidden man. The _Imp_ drops the head; the bloody leftover rolls down along the caved-in roof of the car, coming to a stop somewhere inside, and its big feet pound down into the rest of the car with every step taken towards the poor animal. It seemed to sense the coming danger, because its fangs are bares and it's head drops with eyes that could pierce fear into anyone living creature... except for a monster. Creatures mutated by sorcerers and sorceresses from many many centuries ago from normal animals, to such a degree that they've become something that's almost expected to fit in among man and normal beasts.

Barking mad, and scared the dog completely missed the real threat that had come up behind it. A _Funguar's_ tongue shot out of its vertical mouth wrapping around the dog's ankle, and like a frog would do to a fly or any other bug its latched its tongue too, its recoiled backward like a shot and straight into the creatures waiting jaws.

Laguna put deaf ears to the crunching bones, and the scrap the ensued between the feasting creature and the _Imp_ that eyed the snack second. Using the distraction, as well as being glad that the beast are fighting amongst themselves as well, he slips, unnoticed, across the street to another hiding place. With the pain in his leg, he must look like a peg-legged pirate, though not nearly as threatening since he's technically unarmed.

He hoped that the sleep spore in the air was no longer an issue, he doesn't have time to worry about holding his breath whenever the wind blows. Last thing he wants is to wake up mid-picked apart. His mind wandered back to the brother and sister in the barber shop, then the young girl in the library, and the Father and son he'd just left behind as he makes a sharp turn around the corner to his destination. Like everywhere else in the broken city, the door is unlocked having been opening for business not long before the storm hit.

He's unsure if the lights will turn on, as he brushes past the check-out counter over to the racks of clothing. Laguna wouldn't turn them on even if they did work, he can't risk calling attention to himself when he's got an empty gun around his shoulders. Ripping off the first thing his hand touches, he doesn't bother with a dressing room because no one is around to see him. Lowering his machine gun first, he then drops his pants before pulling his greasy shirt up over his head to leave on the floor in a pile.

Shivering in his almostnude state, he grabs the change of pants that were dropped onto the shelving unit beside him, and by one foot then the other, he slips into the pants and just as swiftly tugs the shirt over his head. Looking down at the outlook, he had to laugh. "I hope nobody minds being saved by a guy in a track suit." Retrieving his gun from the floor its draped back over his head to rest across his chest.

"Now for some bullets."

Being a near Esthar native, thanks to living there for so long, he knows his way around a _Imp_. Unfortunately he has no spells on him for those of the _Blitz_s. Bullets have worked so far, but what if they stop? His only advantage is to change weapons, and a gerenade launcher will work best. Monsters can avoid severe damage from normal bullets, but nothing is in this world can escape fire- well- maybe an elemental. But, none of these particular creatures are flame retardant so flame rounds it is. He can even grab some acid, and explosive rounds if he needs more.

His already hobbled exit is haulted by a group of wandering monsters crossing past the store. Staggered into a fall, Laguna turns over onto hands and knees crawling behind the counter for cover, incase any of them turned their head and spot him.

"It'd be great if I had some martial arts skills," He says to no one. "But even they wouldn't be much use with my bad leg." He rubs the soar limb. "I've gotta alert the cops, or military, or somebody!" His son flashed through his head. Damn he wishes he had his phone!

A loud bang shocked Laguna hard enough to have him pop the top of his head on the counter's outcropping, when fear leaped up into him.

"Ow..." Rubbing the sting, he looks around the large wooden curve to see what's going on. "Shit... they're chaos crazed. They don't care if someone's in here or not; they're gonna trash the place."

Sitting back on his butt, he looks around the dark department store for something he can use as a momentary weapon: A rack pole pulled free to make a bo, a wire clothes hanger straightened into something he could poke out an eye with, he could pull the little shelves from under the jeans and throw them like shurikans. He'll be dead before any of those options work. But at least with the pole he could do some gut-checks.

_'Now how was it that Ward used his spear again?'_ He scratches his head. _'I might get some use from the extinguishers as a smoke screen, but what am I gonna do when I'm out on the run again?'_

Leaning to all fours, he crawls as quickly as he can over to a thin door with a His/Hers sign on it for the unisex bathroom because beside it is his smoke screen. A sound similar to someone crunching on potato chips caught his ear, and he spared a glance over his shoulder at the straining glass doors.

_'It would be a Blitz_._'_

Grabbing the red cylinder from its hook on the wall; walking is terrible on his leg, he should have crawled over- even _rolling_ would be faster! Laguna hides his way over to the side of the door. With the way its pounding, it won't be long before the glass shatters, and when it does he'll start spraying.

The tension was thick like being stuck in a pucker of cold mud. The sparks flying from the monster's pounding mitts sprayed and splashed all around him, until the glass shattered away in a loud avalanche of oddly shaped shards. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting to give himself the mark for flight tactics; the monster's feet are kicking off little electro waves. Laguna can feel them beneath the soles of his shoes, its weird, like walking on a water-bed. You can feel the waves, but you're not getting wet.

Fingers adjusting and readjusting their grip on the cylinder, Laguna sees the left boot plant itself past the threshold. He wondered if he should do it now, or wait for the rest to pass through. If they're not coming through and instead are still passing by, he may be able to just knock this thing out and hurry away.

_'Bad idea, it might explode on impact with his magnetic charge.'_ Teeth bared, he pulls the tab, grabs the nozzle and let's the freeze dried Co2 fly.

Surprised, the creature taps its staff against the floor. A bolt of lightning aimed without destination and struck every metal object in the room, including the extinguisher. Laguna had thrown it just in time to miss having it explode in his grasp, and the _Blitz_ groaned in the attack of shrapnell; Laguna was lucky enough to have ducked behind it for cover, and he bolts without receiving a scratch. Although, the puff ball made out of his hair has seen better days.

Confused, the herd wasn't sure what flew out of the store passed them, but they followed quickly after it.

_'Left... Right... Left...Right...'_ He chanted as if to cheer on his bum limb.

He's practically throwing it forward from the hip joint. Hyne, it was never this bad when he was a soldier. Of course, he was in his twenties then... he'd even done some damage in his thirties and nearly middle age of fourty. But sixty seven is cruel even on a body untouched by haggard wrinkles, liver spots, and losses of one of three of the five senses. He's held up well, but when it comes to aches and pains... well, he may as well be a bed ridden eighty eighty, with a really cute nurse who's not interested in his advances. No offense.

Pushing it, he plows through the doors of the weapons shop; the darkness from the lack of lighting, resting against the black array of guns.

_'I'd be happy that they're empty normally, but right now its just a burden.'_ He reaches around the black shelves grabbing anything that landed full-frontal palm.

Leaping behind the counter, he grunts in pain because he landed on his bed side. The swarm of monsters growl and hiss as they make their way through the double door at a sneaking speed, looking this way and that for their prey. If they have night vision he's screwed! He thanks Hyne himself that his familiar has a scope on it. Carefully, he looks over the counter top, his eye peers through the scope. The green vision of the genius device makes out every monster's location in the darkness. He can see the guns too! The small launchers are at the far end of the store, and the bullets are...

_'I can't believe it! I jumped over the right counter!'_ He laughs silently in celebration.

Continuing to grope the guy to identify its brand as a Trabian AG-42B Ljungman rifle- and yes, he's that good- he then eyes the bullet boxes through the scope. He can slip the glass door over quietly enough, but the sticking them in part is going to alert some attention once they're locked into place. Glancing around the room when his free hand is set down on the clip filled with Norma 6.5 ammo that he needs, its removed then slowly snapped into place. Eye kept on the creatures, Laguna closes the bolt carrier for the bullets to be set inside. He never understood his son-in-laws love for self-loading weapons, you give him a good clip or magazine any day of the week.

All the monsters snapped too on the single click, and their wanders becomes a pronounced looming about to locate the source of the sound.

Bullets locked in place, Laguna maps his aim coordinates then stands from his hiding place and fires! Picking them off with fatal shots, one by one, the gun is gas powered so there's no flash from the shell discharge.

A _Funguar_ raced over to the blockade, but the recoil of the gun is light enough for him to fire just as easily with it as he does his beloved machine gun. Unfortunately, the thing did a backbend into a bridge position from which it lunges straight over the counter top once straightening up. It knocked him over, along with breaking the display case open from its massive weight. Rounds rolled all over the place, in the commotion, Laguna peers through the scope again and onto the floor looking to get some bullets that strayed in its box.

Package in his hand, and a few singles in his pocket, he rolls from his collapsed position on the floor and grabs a magnum from the revolver shelf he'd eyed through the scope. Laguna can feel his body slowing down for some reason, was this a spell? Stiffly, he looks over his shoulder at a _Imp_'s dancing finger as it cast its magic on him.

_'Just gotta reach that gun!'_ He coaches himself, the other became useless after the clip ran dry.

They're closing in now; with a tap of the _Blitz_'s staff to the floor, a long bolt of lightning landed smack on the ammunition...

8 8 8

Irvine admires the second Spoon lure he's made today, before setting it down in the tackle box. The two are sitting on the porch of their Winhill home, day two of their week off from work. They'll be joining Garden by submarine transportation, rather than having the military school come to them.

So far they've forgotten what clothes are- when indoors-, cleaned the filthy cobwebs and dust from everything, before having a large, shared, bowl of pasta out at a small restaurant where they then gone home and produced more sweat between them than the natural heat of the day had. And now they're just sitting casually outside, having conversational bonding time while making lures for when they go fishing during lunch.

"Who's turn is it?" The sniper asks.

Squall thought for a moment. "Mine."

"Let's hear it."

"You have a handsome smile."

"I do?"

"You do."

"Thank you." He tips his hat to the male. "You don't hear it enough, but you're voice is one of my favorite sounds... its got good timber."

"Thank you." Silently loading the box with the next lure, Squall nods a 'hello' to a passing neighbor who said 'hi' to them.

"Hello, sir." Irvine greets him. "Good day for fishin'?"

"I just got back myself, they're really biting today." He points a finger. "You two should hurry with those lures and get while its still good. You know Jameson will be all over it once he wakes up."

"Will do."

The man walked on home with his glorious catch, and a big old smile on his face; Squall smiled at Irvine and continued. "I like that you acknowledge people, even when it doesn't seem like you want to."

"I don't?"

"Not right now... I can tell."

Irvine snickers. "I guess you're right."

"It only shows if the person your talking to knows you well enough."

"Good. I wouldn't want anyone thinking they're bugging me."

Letting out a breath, he looks around. Was it getting hotter? Why the hell is he so hot? Before he was freezing, unusually cold at that, but now it's like he's sitting in a four hundred degree oven with the heat turned all the way up in the house, in the middle of a heatwave. Fanning himself with his fishing hat, that he'd only agreed to wearing because Irvine said he looks good, he lowers it to his lap so he can grab the bottle of ice tea beside his chair to have a drink.

"It's your turn." He reminds Irvine before taking a swig.

"You have a real flare for knowing a person's feelings, even when you say you don't wanna listen to people's problems."

"You guys make it too easy." He takes another drink. "Your feet are really attractive, and that pisses me off too. You don't even get work done on them."

Chuckling, Irvine flexes his bare toes. "Yeah, its a gift. But your feet aren't terrible."

"Yeah, but that's only because I haven't stubbed my toes or anything." He cocks his head left to right while looking his feet over.

"Mhm." Irvine intoned trying to be nice about it, but he gave himself away when laughter burst from his mouth.

Scoffing away his embarrassment, he kicks his lover on the knee before leaving his feet on his thighs. "Zip it, or that laugh is gonna get you a toe in the mouth."

That only made the sniper laugh harder, but he grabs Squall's feet, pinning them down on his thighs to keep from having toes in his mouth.

_'What the hell? My feet are alright...'_ Squall thinks with a pout.

"Naah, you're feet really are good looking." He lifts the right foot up to his mouth, planting pecking kisses on the part not meant for walking to prove it. "Yours are manly- got a good shape, and mine... well, mine are girly from wearin' those damned boots half my life."

"Yeah, girly feet." Squall kicks his foot free. Hiding a smile that he's glad for the compliment.

Looking at the house, his expression shifts to concern. "You ever get in touch with Laguna?" He asks while massaging the foot that hadn't kicked him.

Squall shakes his head. "I should try again before we leave." Spinning a blue thread around a four prong hook, he thinks a moment. "What's something about me that you love?"

"About your personality? ...Let's seeee" He taps his barefoot against the wooden porch floor. "I like how you're still a brat underneath all that cool maturity."

"What?"

"You are! And don't fight back, or you'll get a penalty."

Squall scoffed. "I'd like to know what you find about me that's so bratty?"

"You talk back, you mock people, you glare at everybody when you mean to look important." He laughs when Squall starts chucking materials at him. Swatting them away, he laughingly adds. "And you try to silence someone when you don't wanna hear it, you're a brat."

"Asshole." Squall snips in his bratty defense. _'...Maybe I am a brat.'_ He thinks when realizing what he was doing just now.

"And that's a penalty." He meant being called a bad name.

"Fine. But you'd better hope no one else if out there, or you're not getting squat."

"Oooh." He teased. "So what about me? Same question."

Thinking, he says. "I like how you can walk around butt-naked infront of a stranger, if it came to that, but if your hairband is missing you'll put a grip on it like its there until you find it. I never understood why _that_ makes you feel naked, but its.. you know, its sweet."

Irvine thought about it. "Do I really do that?"

"Yeah."

He shakes his head. "Don't know what it is... I just don't feel all together with my hair just... hanging out all over the place. Kinda like how you don't like yours grown out."

"Oh."

"Oh, oh." He smiles.

Closing the tackle box, once Irvine's last lure is inside, he then stands up. "I'm gonna call, Laguna. Get lunch together."

"Okay."

Walking to the staircase, he calls over his shoulder. "Don't follow me."

"Ahaha." Shaking his fist in Squall's direction, he heads over to the refrigerator.

While whistling a tune, he pulls the fridge's door open grabbing from it a little tub of crab salad dip, a bag of salad, and a bottle of Two Thousand Island dressing. From the top of the fridge he grabs a package of wheat crackers, and a from the freezer two thermoses of Galbadian apple flavor iced tea. Packing the cooler, he then opens the freezer again to grab the frozen liner that sits inside the cooler.

Looking from the packed basket to the liner in his hand, he stamps his foot down. "...Shoot." Shaking his head from the cobwebs that have his thoughts strung up out of order, he unpacks the cooler to set the liner inside, then he packs it up once more.

At the front door, he trades his cowboy hat for a fisherman's, and he sets his favored head cover down on the table top in the small kichenette.

Loud foot steps head down the stairs, followed by the onwer's voice. "He's not answering, so I left him another message."

"Maybe he doesn't even have his phone with him." Irvine wonders.

With a shrug, Squall decided to put it out of his mind. Laguna's a grown man, he's probably got his phone off and is lounging in the Dollet hotel for all he knows. How much trouble can a person come across when they're writing a novel? Besides, if he runs into monsters he has his gun with him, and he's an experienced soldier.

"Who's turn is it?" Squall asks while locking the door.

"Mine." Thinking he loads the saddle bags for their ride.

They could walk, but riding is so much more relaxing and the birds need a good walk. And they can sit by the water's edge and just chill with each other. Climbing on the black birds, they adjust their seats before setting the beasts off on the trail to the fishing spot.

8 8 8

_'These questions are so easy!'_ Kait beams from ear to ear at the computer screen on his desk.

Its all pretty standard stuff. He looks around the room for anyone who looks like they might be scratching their head, and struggling. But everyone seems intune with the questions and the answers. Except maybe Kamar, dude is always clueless.

_'Poor Kamar.'_ He shakes his head. _'Let's see, question one: Drawing is how magic is extracted from enemies?' _Looking from yes to no on the screen he presses the answer. _'Yes.'_

The next question. **There are a total of 8 elemental attributes?**

_'There's air... water... thunder... fire... earth... shoot what are the other two?'_ Scratching his head, he realizes what he's doing then quickly puts his hand down at his side, looking around after to be sure no one saw him wondering about an answer. _'Other two... other two- oh! Ice aaand holy? Yes! Yes.'_ He presses the correct answer then cast a triumphant look around the room.

**3. A hightening in your stats junction will raise your physical strength in attack?**

_'Yes.'_

The questions ranged from vitality junctioning all the way to asking if you're effected by poison if you attack or don't attack. Just EVERYTHING! By the time break rolled around, all the students were groaning in the hall over aching butts, backs, and sleeping limbs, or questions unanswered or wrong.

"Misery, thy name is Sorin." He slumps forward to rest in a one-sided hug on his best friend. "I wish we were on the battle portion already."

"Aaw, where'd you get stuck?"

"Tch. Where do you think?" Moving out of his draping, he scratches the top of his head. "Damn. I just don't know if magic can only be acquired by drawing. Aren't there like... little runes or something to do that?"

"I'm not helping you cheat."

"You suck." Shoving him, he looks down the hall. "Cliff! Hey, Cliff!"

Watching his friend's departure, he calls after him. "He's not gonna help you either!"

That slight raise in his voice seemed to cause an explosion in his throat because he just broke into a fit of coughs right after. Fist raised, he leans over hacking.

"Kait," A fan of black hair drapes his annoyed expression from being seen when he turns his head. But Leo saw. "Hey... are you sick?"

He can feel himself going back into that dark place again; and his hands scrunch into fists. _'What the hell is wrong with me?'_ He wonders, and misses what his girlfriend just said. "Huh?"

"I said, drink some water. Here." Handing the bottle to him, she straightens from her stoop, pulling him up by the collar of his grey cadet uniform.

"Thank you." Tipping the open bottle back, he side-eyes her as if she were going to attack him or something. "But I don't need you getting me water, you're not my maid."

Scoffing at him, she asks. "What the hell is with you? First the glare and now I'm a maid because I wanna be nice and give you water? Huh? Shit-head, have I offended you?"

Lowering the bottle, he smiles. "No. I just don't want your's... or anyone elses' company today." Sticking out his tongue, he shoves the bottle back into her hand before going back into the classroom to be alone. If only.

Sucking in a breath, he lets it out through puffer fish cheeks. Returning to his desk, he then looks over his shoulder to sneer at the guy two rows back.

"Hyland."

The white haired male spared him grey-eyed glance from his activity of tapping his pencil on the desk. "_Thing_ that gets stuck in a tree."

"You know my name?"

"And I just said it... was I wrong? Then how but Scaredy Cat? No. Uumm a geeks gym shorts- those often get thrown in trees... maybeee...?"

"Maybe I'll tear your jaw off, if you don't shut up."

"Oooh, Little 'Turd' is fiesty today. What's the matter? Hmm? Don't know who you are between all those names you have? Or are you just realizing this test is hard, and you'll _never_ live up to your kidnappers' reputations."

"That does it." Getting up from his desk, he approaches the male in hard, quick strides.

"Back to your seats everyone!" Mrs. Lundey calls out. "Kait... back to your seat." She says sternly, namely, when seeing his destination is towards his least favorite person.

Snapping his fingers together, Hyland continues messing with the riled up student. "Oh right, Kait. How could I forget something so stupid on a human being."

Hyland, for all his grand standing, had to shrink back because, at the moment, said 'human being' isn't looking too human. Weren't his eyes blue? What's with the black illusion? Is he on something that's making his pupils so dialated his eyes look like black orbs? Regaining his composure when Kait whispered something to him, the seated male was almost relieved when the instructor came over to assist Kait back to his seat.

The odd encounter left him tapping his pencil in thought, especially when Kait's gaze upon him was reduced to nothing more than blinked at him with confusion, then over his shoulder like he were wondering when he'd even crossed the room. Talk about a freaky ass guy. He usually gets lame retorts after he's ribbed him, now dude's actually growing some balls? Hyland can't wait until they're on the battle field, so he can blow off some steam. Balamb is probably already out there by now.

Balamb Garden is silent enough to seem as though its as disciplined as Galbadia when it comes to cutting up and acting out, and its because they're taking testing very seriously. They _all_ want to become SeeDs, there can be no failing end- not even on the written test. Battle, and body knowledge are just as important as caving in a monster's skull. There is no one without the other if you're going to become a successful member of the Garden military. They're just glad instructor Kinhart isn't around to give them the death glare while they work. Seriously. Is the guy using intimidation to get better results? Or is he giving them an example of how a monster will view them once they get out of the training center and into the real world?

These questions are pretty tough though. Some students are faking bathroom breaks or other needs to be excused from the room so they can take a breather, and remember some of their much earlier lessons from class. After what happened with the war and the whole time compression scare, the Gardens aren't taking any chances in teachings, because you just never know what could creep up. Ultimacia surprised all of the war heros, and they nearly died- the good and stay down version! If no one is left alert in battle after twenty four hours _Life_ and _Full-life_ magic don't work. You're dead. Game over.

Junie is definitely feeling the pressures of 'Game over' nerves. She wonders about being in Garden at all when it comes to battling. She's all right, sure, but there's always that what if. What if the team she's assigned on isn't up to par? Who'll help her blunders in battle then? What if she's the one slowing the team down and gets them killed? What if... what if?

**Question: When gaining experience, a GF can learn new abilities, will it forget old ones without your command?**

Biting down on her pretty white heart covered pink index fingernail, she closes her eyes and pushes in an answer. She should have just gone to Trabia and been a medic soldier.

Quistis, who's filling in for Squall in this moment, looks around the room to catch anyone who's eyes might be straying. But every single person in the room seems to understand that their is no gain in cheating, if the answer is there without the knowledge you will not be a good soldier. Checking the clock, she then looks out the window spotting the mountains behind Hawkwind Plains of Trabia. It looks like they're have lovely weather, unlike her home away from Garden in Dollet where a dark cloud was hovering over it. It must have been storming at the time. It sure looks different being on the outside looking in, its all dark and menacing.

The assistant couldn't help but think that being cooped up in the school for the four day ride it will take to get to Hell, is doing a number on her thoughts. Suddenly a simple storm looks like trouble? She needs to get back into romance novels.

8 8 8

Laguna had never seen anything like it! Bullets sparked to fire without a gun, and the shots went around the room like a wild bird in a cage for the first time... just confused and aiming anywhere to get out. Where the fires were most useful to him, they were also harmful. There are live rounds in the store that could have been hit by the careless bolt of lightning to being shot by the fleeing bullets. He crawled as quickly as he could to the supplies closet; the Slow cast on him had worn off on the way, but that didn't stop his bad leg from stiffening and dragging behind him like a stone statue anchored at the uppermost thigh.

He'd been hit three time by the fire. When the monsters began to fall he lost their shielding bodies and that left him open for the aim, which he took in his left hand, left shoulder, but bad leg. Thankfully its so numb from pain he couldn't feel that shot enter, but he's light-headed from blood loss.

"I've gotta... Hyne it hurts.." He grunts when shoving open the door of the supplies room.

It turns out, its an office. With a phone! Keeping low for stray slugs passing through the walls, he reaches the desk and manages to pull the phone down onto the floor. Who will he call? The police here are all... well, he doesn't wanna think about something like that, but maybe the police in Timber can help. How the hell do you call police in another city when the numbers are all the same?!

"Rrr..." He groans. Holding his stomach he spins on the floor, spinning as if he were going to twist into a knot. "Wh... what's ha..ppening t... mee ahhh!"

Sitting up screaming, he's unable to dodge being struck by a bullet... in the back of his head.


End file.
